


A book you write yourself

by whatabub



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Canon Rewrite, Character Death, Gen, Serious Injuries, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:00:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29103690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatabub/pseuds/whatabub
Summary: Rayla obeyed Runaan's orders. She stood back as the others assaulted the castle. That one choice sets of a cascade of consequences which re-writes the present, and the future.
Relationships: Amaya & Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Bait & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Claudia (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Rayla & Runaan (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 88
Kudos: 89





	1. Apprehension

Rayla repeatedly ran the whetstone over her blades, creating a periodic, scratching tone that gradually increased in pitch as the rock honed the edge of the magic-imbued steel.

Her blades did not need any sharpening, but she did need something to keep her anger from manifesting. Using the whetstone that Skor had previously denied her was just enough petty recompense to keep her emotions in check.

Even as her hands moved surely, Rayla’s mind raced unhindered. She relived the moment where she failed to kill the lone human patrol over and over. What she should have done differently. She dreamed up things the soldier might have done to justify death. Perhaps he was needlessly cruel to his own children, placing unreasonable expectations upon them and then dispensing callous reprimands when they failed. Maybe he was cowardly, unfit to serve the King he swore to protect. It might be that he was selfish, willing to cast off vulnerable friends and family to maintain his status among the greater community.

She recalled all the stories about humans she heard back at the Silvergrove, how they kill intelligent animals for sport, how they capture magical creatures for uses in cruel dark magic experiments. And of course, how they killed the Dragon King and Prince, even though the latter was still yet to be born. Humans were responsible for all these cruel acts. The Dragon Queen’s demands were just. The humans deserved what was coming.

But did that specific human deserve death? Rayla asked herself, once again revisiting the patrol she let escape. She didn’t know if he hunted, but he didn’t look like he was a dark magician, and he certainly wasn’t the one responsible for the death of the Dragon King and Prince.

“No.” She said out loud, her resolve returning. “An assassin doesn’t decide right from wrong, only life and death”

It was a phrase she had heard countless times from Runaan while she was under his tutelage. It wasn’t her place to decide if someone deserved death. Her purpose was only to discharge it.

Rayla returned the whetstone to Skor’s pack, and folded up her twin knives. Runaan’s words from earlier echoed in her ears “Your heart isn’t hard enough to do whatever it takes.”

She needed to prove Runaan wrong.

She could do whatever it takes.

Rayla walked to the edge of the campground. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon. She had resisted the urge to infiltrate the castle all day, and now it was too late to do so. Runaan and the other assassins would already be in the castle by now, waiting for the moon to rise before they leapt from the shadows to begin the attack in earnest.

All she could do; all she was permitted to do, was wait.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not content with standing around, Rayla wandered into the woods around their campsite, making mental notes of all the roads in the vicinity. Twice, she crouched down and eavesdropped on some human patrols, hoping to catch some interesting gossip. But strangely the only topic anyone seemed to talk about was who in the castle could eat the most eggs.

The last wisp of sunlight disappeared as the full moon became the dominant source of light in the sky, filling Rayla with a familiar warmth and energy. More than ever, she wished she were participating in the attack on the castle, but all she could do from this distance was stand by in anticipation of the assassins bindings on her wrist falling off, signaling that the job had been completed.

Rayla was finishing one last round around the area when she heard a cheery child’s voice.

“Are you sure you don’t want a Jelly Tart? Bait and I grabbed so many, I wouldn’t even mind.” Rayla activated her moonshadow form, becoming nigh-invisible.

“For the last time, I told you I’m not in the mood to eat anything.” A second, older, but still boy-ish voice replied, with annoyance in his tone.

“Is that all that humans can talk about? Food?” Rayla thought to herself as the conversation continued.

“I’ve never walked to the Banther Lodge before” The child’s voice continued. Rayla wasn’t sure if it was a boy or a girl.

“We’re going to get about halfway tonight, then we’ll make camp, and arrive tomorrow right before lunchtime.” The older one replied.

The two humans rounded a bend in the road and came into view. The younger voice belonged to a very young boy with a comically large poof of hair on top of his head. Rayla had never seen hair like it in all of Xadia, so it caused her some momentary bewilderment. The older human was walking slightly behind the younger one, carefully scanning the road ahead. This human appeared to be about her age, and looked pretty much exactly what Rayla thought a “generic human” was supposed to look like. Both of them carried large backpacks, and were dressed in nice-looking clothes. These were obviously children of someone wealthy. Why would they be traveling by themselves in the middle of the night?

“Wow! We really should have ridden horses like last time, they are so much faster. ” The younger one said with a chuckle. Rayla could now see that he was carrying a very grumpy-looking glow toad.

“This was a last minute decision. It is what it is” The older one replied, sounding somewhat miserable. This human had a large book at his side, perhaps he was a scholar of some kind?

The younger boy was not getting the hint. “I’ll race you to that tree!” he said, before bolting down the road and past Rayla’s position. She kept still, trusting her camouflage to keep herself hidden.

The older boy was visibly irritated as he ran after the younger boy. “This isn’t a vacation Ezran, wait up!”

Time seemed to freeze.

Rayla’s heart dropped into her stomach. “Ezran?” She repeated, remembering the names of the two targets. Her heart began to beat louder, her breaths became stunted, a sense of dread enveloped her core and spread to her limbs.

That jovial young boy was marked for death.

And it was up to her to follow through on that mark.

At that exact moment, the binding on her right wrist turned blood red, and slithered off. Rayla knew what that meant. Runaan and the others had succeeded in assassinating King Harrow, all that was left was to kill Prince Ezran.

And here he was.

Right in front of her.

Rayla hesitated again. Every fiber of her body screaming that what she wanted to do was wrong. Still, she stood up from her position, and ran silently after the two boys, who hadn’t noticed her yet. She forced all doubts out of her mind. This was for justice. She wouldn’t fail again. She would strike quickly. The young boy would not suffer, would not feel pain.

She leapt across the canopy, and landed in front of the tree the boys were racing to. Ezran was looking back at the older one, unaware of the danger in his path. He ran face-first into Rayla, and she caught the young prince by the collar before he bounced off. She spun him around to face the older boy and placed her blade on his throat.

“Humans cut down the King of the Dragons and destroyed his only Egg. Justice will not be denied.” She said in an absolute tone.

“Huh?” Ezran replied, clearly confused. “I didn’t do that.” It seemed to Rayla that he didn’t quite understand the gravity of the situation. “Who are you anyways? Why are your arms see-through?” Ezran quizzed.

“NO! STOP!” The older boy interjected. “Ezran has done nothing wrong. You can’t do this to him! This is wrong!”

“Do what, Callum?” Ezran asked, growing frustrated at all his questions remaining unanswered.

Rayla answered Callum, involuntarily taking every excuse to delay the killing. “An assassin doesn’t decide right from wrong, only life and death. Humans killed the Dragon King and his egg, the Dragon Prince. So your King and Prince must die. That is justice.”

Callum was on the verge of tears. He was slowly walking forward, hand outstretched, but Rayla could see he had no weapons. He was no threat. “How does that solve anything?” He pleaded. “You’re just continuing a cycle of war! Please… Don’t kill him.”

Ezran was beginning to understand the circumstances. His hands began to shake, and his voice quivered. “The dragon egg, is it blue and glowing... and sparkly?”

“It was,” Rayla started, “before the humans destroyed it.”

“It’s not destroyed, it’s in Viren’s secret dungeon” Ezran said confidently.

Rayla took a couple of seconds to process this statement. Initially, she was overjoyed. If the dragon egg was stolen, but not destroyed, then it meant the war could be averted. There would be no reason to kill Ezran, surely even Runaan would agree.

But it was impossible. Everyone in the Silver Grove said the egg was destroyed, some even claiming to have seen the event unfold via magic. The Dragon Queen was just. She wouldn’t send an assassination party to kill a child if there was any chance the Dragon Prince was still alive. Even Callum looked befuddled by Ezran’s statement.

“You’re lying. Humans are liars.”

“It’s true! That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier, Callum. I just didn’t know it was a dragon egg until now.” Ezran reiterated. He sounded so… earnest; so sincere.

The doubt she had put aside was slowly crawling back into her mind. Rayla took her blade off of Ezran’s throat, but continued to hold his collar. There was no way the Dragon Prince was alive. But Ezran didn’t seem like he was lying, he was too innocent. Maybe he saw a primal stone and mistook it for the egg. She really didn’t want to kill him, but she couldn’t let him go either. She decided to take him to the campsite and wait for the others to decide what to do about the information.

“Come with me.” She commanded. “Is that a request, or an…” Callum stammered, but quickly stopped when Rayla glared menacingly at him. “Uhh… following you. Yes. That was always my… follow… Yes...”

Rayla carefully escorted Ezran through the woods. She could see perfectly, even though the moon was blocked by a ceiling of trees, part of her moonshadow powers granted her near perfect vision during the night. Callum was not so blessed. Rayla could hear him struggling to navigate the undergrowth, desperate to stay as close to Ezran as possible. Neither of them said a word as she pushed Ezran along towards the campsite.

It was an hour after darkness when they arrived. Nobody else was there. Rayla’s heart began to beat heavily again. “Where are the others? They should have been back by now.” She muttered apprehensively. It was completely possible that they had all perished in the attack, but she refused to believe that possibility. It was a full moon, and they were all exceptional fighters. They must have just... gotten delayed somehow. She would wait here, and they would come.

They had to.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Runaan slid down the cliff, using his blades to carve a controlled path to the bottom. Dozens of arrows and crossbow bolts whizzed past him each second, getting less accurate as the distance increased. If he could get to the treeline, he would be safe. There was a trail of his blood on the cliff face, smearing along the path of his travel, the blood originating from an arrow lodged in his right hip. It was one of many injuries he now carried on his escape from Katolis Castle.

But none of those injuries pained him more than seeing his comrades die one-by-one. King Harrow and his mage were more formidable than any humans Runaan had fought before. Runaan witnessed them all die: Andromeda, Skor, Callisto, and Ram. It ended up being Callisto who landed the killing blow on The King, before the dark mage engulfed her with flames so hot it set the nearby tapestries on fire. Runaan fled over the balcony, fighting off any soldiers in his way while leaping down multiple stories at a time.

Even with the King’s death, he still considered himself a failure. There were two targets, and only one was dead. They had scouted the entire castle before their strike, but nobody saw any sign of the prince. Andromeda heard gossip that the two princes had left the castle and were headed to some sort of lodge. Regardless of if that were true, the undeniable fact was that the prince had escaped his clutches.

Runaan slammed into the rushing river faster than he would have liked. The cold water initially was a shock, but it quickly numbed the pain in his hip, which was an unexpected blessing to say the least. He expertly navigated the rapids to the other shore. It was easier going this direction than the opposite. Arrows continued to rain down at random, but their aim was essentially random at this point. Runaan dragged his injured leg across the undergrowth and into the safety of the trees.

He had survived.

It took him two hours to limp back to the campsite. Along the way, he took greater stock of his injuries. The most serious was the arrow in his hip, which he had already removed and bandaged. Next was a deep gash in his left shoulder, where King Harrow had managed to sneak a thrust through Runaan’s defenses. There was a deep throbbing pain in his lower chest that suggested either a sprain or a break in his rib cage. Dozens of lacerations and punctures dotted his limbs, and bruises were no doubt speckled across every inch of his body. Lastly, his left horn had been shattered, losing most of its length. The strike that removed his horn had left him with a most unfortunate migraine. His most grievous wounds he had bound by pieces of his cloak, the others could wait until he reached the medical supplies in the campsite.

Upon his arrival, he was grateful to see Rayla still present, but shocked to see two human children there as well. One of them being held hostage in her grasp.

Rayla was the first to notice his arrival. She stood and scanned the wood line beyond him. “Where are the others?” She pleaded.

Witnessing Rayla’s outburst, the young boy in her grasp turned to see who she was talking to, and Runaan froze in place…

It couldn’t be this simple.

It was unmistakably Prince Ezran, held prisoner in his own campsite. Runaan wordlessly drew his blades and closed the distance, his wounds a distant memory.

_To be continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I am mostly doing this to practice writing, so I welcome any constructive criticism you can offer. 
> 
> I wanted to re-imagine the Dragon Prince Universe with what I believe to be more realistic consequences. That mostly involves just taking the kiddy gloves off. Some characters will die, others will get seriously injured. Furthermore, I intend to dive deep into the thought processes behind decisions that characters make, because getting into the mind of fictional characters is where I find the most enjoyment in writing.


	2. Chapter 2: The Death of Innocence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains depictions of violence against children. If this is something you would like to avoid reading, there is a synopsis of this chapter in the end notes.

Ezran had only been this terrified once before. 

It happened during a stormy night in the castle, long after the sun had set. Ezran had been staying past his curfew and methodically exploring the vents and passageways in the castle, trying to find a secret way into the bakery. He found a door that led into a castle room he had never been inside of before. It was the high mage's quarters, Viren’s room. 

The door he just entered through was a large painting of a girl with a lamb, Ezran closed the painting, and began to poke around. Just then, the door began to rattle. Ezran knew he couldn’t get back in the painting in time, so he hid under the desk in the room. The door opened, and Lord Viren sauntered in. 

But something was different; his face was pale, covered in scar-like streaks. His lips were chapped, his hair was a deathly gray. He looked like a dead man walking. Worst of all were his eyes; they were a black void, lacking any structure. Just pure, dark, orbs. 

Viren went towards one of the bookshelves, and opened it like a doorway. There were orange flying creatures inside, but Ezran was too terrified to take a closer look. Somehow, he made a noise under the table. The ghoul heard it, and sharply turned, locking eyes with him.

The look on Viren’s face was one of unreasonable rage, unbounded malice. A look of pure contempt. 

No words were said, but the expression was enough to send Ezran running for his life. Out the door, up the stairs, past the guards, and straight into his Dad’s room, where he stayed until morning.

That look on Viren’s face was matched muscle-for-muscle by the large blood-soaked elf at the other edge of the campsite. Ezran was inexperienced with reading emotions, but his instincts knew what that face meant.

It was the face of someone who wanted to hurt him.

Ezran backed away from the terror, but tripped in the hazardous undergrowth, the nightmarish elf quickly closed the distance, weapons reflecting the harsh moonlight. The blades cleaved towards him. Ezran covered his face with his hands, closed his eyes, and let out a scream.

Joining his shriek was a cacophony of overlapping sounds. Callum shouted “NO!” while the girl elf yelled “Stop!” Loudest of all were two distinct clashes, metal striking metal. Ezran peaked between his outstretched hands, and saw the two elves locked in combat. 

“RAYLA?! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?” The male elf roared. 

“Runaan, stop” Rayla implored. “Ezran says the…”

“First you betray us to the enemy, and now you directly oppose the orders of the Dragon Queen. It was a mistake to let you live.”

Runaan turned his attention away from Ezran and focused on Rayla, fully intending to hack her to pieces. Rayla maneuvered defensively, her blades dancing with Runaan’s. The sound of the weapons intersecting creating a rhythm of chimes that would have been enchanting if Ezran himself wasn’t in such peril. 

Callum grabbed Ezran from under his arms and dragged him away from the raging duel.

“This is our chance to run,” Callum whispered, desperate to get away from the assassins.

But the battle did not last long. Runaan was in no condition to fight. During an underhand swing, his leg refused to support the weight of the strike, and he collapsed into the dirt.

Runaan spat some blood into the soil as he sputtered, “What is your intention here? To join your parents in ignominy?” 

Rayla recoiled from the accusation. For a split second, Ezran saw pain in her face. It was the same face Callum made whenever Sarai unexpectedly came up in conversation. But just like Callum, Rayla quickly regained her composure and retorted.

“I have reason to believe the Dragon Prince is alive, stored somewhere in Katolis Castle. We have a chance to retrieve it and return it to the Dragon Queen.” 

Rayla stood over the prone assassin, her weapons lowered, but still ready to parry any farther strikes. Runaan made no further attempts to attack, but still grimaced threateningly.

“You are as gullible as you are faithless.” He spat. “Humans are liars, murderers, agents of destruction. Of course they will tell you whatever you want to hear to save themselves. Even now they are using your moment of foolishness to escape.” He gestured towards Callum and Ezran sneaking away.

“Ha ha ha. No escaping here!” Callum laughed nervously as Rayla pointed her blade at them.”

Runaan took advantage of the distraction. Using his good leg, he swept Rayla’s feet out from under her, and rolled away from her plummeting body. Runaan and Rayla both leapt to their feet in battle stances, but did not resume combat.

“Hey! You swept the leg!” Callum exclaimed” 

“Silence Boy!” Runaan commanded before addressing Rayla. “The Dragon Prince is dead, and Prince Ezran’s life is the just price. Since you choose to indulge in your progenitor’s cowardice, I will kill him myself.” 

Runaan took a step towards the boys, daring Rayla to stop him. 

“No.” Rayla said firmly, while stepping in between. “Prince Ezran has seen the egg with his own eyes, and has drawn detailed instructions on where it is hidden. I know I can get it. In and out before the sun rises.” 

Rayla gestured to an open sketchbook on the ground, with drawings of rocks and stones with numbers on them, as well as a map of the castle and underground tunnels. Runaan bent down to pick up the book and examined it. Inside it was a perfect description of the egg he had seen many years ago, and pages of instructions on how to navigate the tunnels. Runaan studied the pages for a long while before coming to a decision.

“You aren’t going anywhere near that castle, this is likely a trap.” Runaan said, answering Rayla’s request. “But I must agree that there is a reasonable possibility that this claim is legitimate.”

A sense of relief washed over Ezran. He knew the egg was real, and he knew his drawings were accurate. Now Runaan would get the egg for himself, let him and Callum go back to see Dad, and the Dragon Prince would get returned to his mother too. Everybody would go home happy.

“Who is this boy? A squire?” Runaan asked Rayla, while gesturing towards Callum.

“No, that’s Callum, step-son to… the King”

Ezran noticed her hesitate before talking about Dad, but couldn’t think of a reason why.

“Step-son, hmm,” Runaan mused. “Interesting. Your mother must have been quite the promiscuous woman”

Ezran didn’t know what “promiscuous” meant, but it must have been a compliment, because Callum replied, “uhh… Thank you.”

Runaan chuckled at that response, looking inexplicably pleased “He’ll do.” Runaan declared to Rayla before turning back around. He got incredibly close, much too close for comfort. Callum leaned backwards, away from the intimidating figure of Runaan.

“You have this one chance to save your half-brother’s life. If you return to this spot with the Dragon Egg before sunrise, I will consider sparing his life. If I have any reason to believe you told someone about us, where we are, who we are, anything like that… I will not hesitate to kill him. Do you know what all those words meant, boy? Do you understand your task?”

“Uhh… yes, sir.” Callum said in a slow, low voice. His words clearly enunciated that he understood the gravity of the request.

“Good, because I will not repeat myself.” Runaan was cruelly condescending. “Now I’m sure you will want your Prince to edit some of the information in that sketchbook, take all the time you need.”

Callum took the book from Runaan. He knew no edits were needed. Ezran wouldn’t lie about this, but he did need to pack supplies. Bait provided enough light to see in Ezran’s backpack and grab the large cloak kept inside. He would need it to remain anonymous in the castle grounds. 

“How am I going to see in the tunnels?” Callum asked Ezran, “Are there torches?”  
  
“I didn’t see any, I always just use Bait… uhh… you should take him with you.”

“No, there must be another way, I already hate having to leave you alone, I’d never forgive myself if I took bait from you too.”  
  
“It’s okay Callum, I’ll be asleep the whole night, and he’ll be back when I wake up. You need to use his light in the tunnels.”

Callum regretted having to take the last companion from his brother, but he couldn’t think of another solution. 

“I’ll be back with the egg.” Callum announced to the whole camp in an attempt to hype himself up.  
  
“I very much doubt that,” Runaan said coldly.

* * *

Viren replaced the cloth over the glowing Dragon Egg, extinguishing the blue light from the underground chamber. Only his dark magic sources remained, casting a slightly red-ish hue onto the walls.

The egg was by far the most valuable asset in his collection. Archdragons only laid one egg every thousand years, and the magic energy contained within was near limitless. 

If only he could harness it.

In the past few months, he had tried everything he could think of to siphon the vigor out of the egg, but the object stubbornly repelled all attempts to reach beneath the shell. It was as if the creature inside was incompatible with the spells even when all other creatures succumbed with ease.

No matter, he would continue hunting for the solution, and would be certain to find it one day. His main concern this night was that one of the assassins might have discovered it and ran off with it. His worry was so great that he immediately ventured into his catacombs the moment the last elf dove off the balcony. His haste was so substantial that he didn’t even bother giving the wounded soldiers outside the King’s chambers a second thought. Even now, Viren wasn’t completely sure if Soren had survived, but that boy had a knack for swordfighting, and was surely doing just fine. 

Content that the egg was secure, Viren returned to his quarters, and put on a somber face. His best friend had just been killed, and it would be expected of him to carry the mantle of responsibility until the boy King returned from his vacation to the Banther Lodge. The first responsibility would be to lead the 7 days of mourning.

He exited his chambers, and was face-to-face with a funereal Opeli. Viren observed the expected formalities with her, not looking to make any trouble with the rest of the council. He took a candlestick, and slowly followed the procession into the castle foyer, where the pallbearers were waiting with Harrow in the open coffin. Viren, Opeli, and a few other members of Harrow’s close counsel, had this personal chance to say goodbye to the man they loved. 

Once the farewells were complete, the pallbearers began to rhythmically lead the group out the castle gates, where the rest of the nearby citizens had their chance to mourn their liege. Viren said nothing as the proceedings were performed, but did take note of Claudia and Soren among those present. Soren looked awful, both from injuries, and from what Viren suspected to be an injured pride, but he was indeed alive as expected. Claudia, in contrast, remained stoic, watching the event without showing a single emotion. Viren felt some regret that she was forced to grow up so fast, but the regret met with equal amounts of pride upon seeing what a dignified woman she was becoming. Her power and poise would soon become legendary throughout Katolis and the lands beyond.

After what felt like an eternity, the first night of mourning had completed, and Viren could return to his private chambers. The events of this night were such a drag, but he knew it would be necessary to maintain appearances if he wanted the people to trust his leadership. When Ezran returned, he would be ready to provide counsel to the young king, and Katolis would continue to flourish through his guidance. 

Upon arrival at his quarters, Viren took out a small vial from his pocket which contained the dying breath of his late friend, King Harrow. In the morning, he would resume attempts to draw out the latent power inside the Dragon Egg. It was quite possible that this new ingredient would be the key he needed.

* * *

The sounds of Callum trundling through the woods had long disappeared into the night, leaving Ezran alone with the two assassins. He acted so brave when Callum was preparing to leave, but now that he and Bait were gone, a wave of loneliness washed over him. Runaan still terrified him, and he had nobody to comfort him. He sat down slowly and observed the two elves.

Runaan was treating his wounds with some medical supplies, Rayla was sitting off to the side, avoiding his gaze. 

“You’re better than this.” Runaan told Rayla.

“What do you mean?” Rayla replied, finally looking him in the eyes.

“You feel guilty about your comrades’ deaths. That much is obvious. What matters now is that you make something productive out of it. There is no vindicating yourself, but you can still honor their sacrifice.”

“How?”

“Ezran here is destined to die, that is not negotiable, no matter how you feel about it. Our entire clan, not just the assassins, is devoted to the Dragon Queen. If you want to remain one of us, I need assurance that you are as well.”

“I am completely devoted. That’s why I wanted to retrieve the...”  
  
“Yet you avoid the one duty she has specifically instructed you with.”

“Not this time. If the Dragon Prince is alive, it wouldn’t be right for Ezran to die, even the Dragon Queen would surely agree… Surely you must agree.”

Runaan sat quietly while he thought about his next words.

“If by some miraculous chance, the humans kept the egg alive all this time, they did so fully intending the Dragon Queen to never see her son again. Are you suggesting we should keep Ezran locked away somewhere in Xadia until his lifetime is expired? No. The Dragon Queen gave us orders to kill King Harrow and Prince Ezran. I will not leave the work half done.”

It took Ezran some time to recognise the significance of that last statement. They were talking about Dad, he wanted nothing more than to run back to the castle, up the stairs, past the guards, and into Dad’s room, just like that night where he saw Viren. But what he just heard meant such a thing wouldn’t be possible. Dad wouldn’t be there. 

“King Harrow… my Dad?” Ezran spoke, hoping that he was wrong.  
  
“Your father is dead.” Runaan spoke bluntly. “And come morning, you will be as well.”

“Oh.” Ezran said dejected.

He knew what those words meant, but mortality was such an intangible concept to him. He was too young to remember Mom dying, and nobody else important to him had died before. The weight of this news simply could not find purchase in the web of his mind. 

“Rayla” Runaan continued the conversation from earlier. “Come morning, whether the boy returns or not, you will show me with your actions that you are capable of serving the Dragon Queen. Do not fall victim to cowardice like Lain and Tiadrin did. You must overcome your own shortcomings. I will not tolerate another failure. You have all night to prepare yourself. I will take the first watch.”

After a long pause, Rayla responded weakly, “I understand.”

Rayla layed down to go to sleep, and Ezran tried to do the same. A part of him recognized that he was in great danger right now, but he felt no need to stay alert. Either because there was nothing he could do about it, or because he didn’t understand the magnitude of the threat. Runaan said he would die in the morning, but that danger wasn’t “real” to him yet. 

He repositioned himself three times in one minute. The ground was hard, rocks and sticks were always poking him in the back. He couldn’t use his backpack as a pillow because he would smoosh his jelly tarts if he did, so he rested his head on his hands. 

After changing positions one too many times, Runaan had had enough. “Silence, boy. Not another sound from you.”

Ezran was wise enough to know not to upset the elf that had tried to kill him just hours earlier, so he stayed in one position, forcing his body to acclimate to the uneven ground below. 

The cold night air became more aggressive as the earth’s memory of sunlight aged. He wished he could have used his cloak as a blanket, or Bait for his warmth, but Callum had taken both. He knew that Callum needed both of them more at this moment, but as the seconds turned to minutes, the chill of night became fiercer. His shivers grew worse and worse until finally...

“I’m cold.” Ezran pleaded, after waiting as long as he could bear.

He immediately regretted his utterance. Runaan stood up robotically, and began marching in his direction with the same face of contempt that he had entered the camp with. Adrenaline coursed through Ezran’s blood as his body suddenly recognised the jeopardy it was in. He scrambled backwards away from Runaan, but did not get very far before the elf stepped on his ankle, bent down, and…

_***SLAP*** _

The pain did not register at first, but the force was enough to twist Ezran’s head to the side. He let out a high-pitched gasp of surprise and terror. He knew he had just been hit, hard. Runaan thankfully bent away, lifted his foot off of Ezran’s ankle, and trumped back to his sentry position. Ezran, meanwhile acted purely on instinct, his flight response taking over. He hyperventilated as he continued scrambling away from the man who had just harmed him, and towards Rayla, the only resemblance of sanctuary left in the camp. 

Ezran grabbed her arm, and pulled it to his chest, his hands covering the white bracelet on her wrist. Her face was turned away, so he could not see her reaction, but she did not fight his grip. He desperately held her arm while his pulse slowly reduced back to normal levels. 

While earlier he was unconcerned with the threat of death, this pain on his cheek was real. It was tangible. And it finally unlocked the true horror that should have been present from the moment Rayla placed her blade at his throat. 

He was alone. 

He was going to die. 

He was never going to see Dad again. 

He would never see the sun rise again.

But he did not cry.

In his darkest moment, Ezran’s subconscious instead clung to the only hope he had left. That Callum would return with the Dragon Egg, and it would change Runaan’s mind. That was what was going to happen. It was what had to happen.

 _Callum is going to save me,_ He thought to himself.

 _Callum is going to save me,_ his thoughts repeated

_Callum is going to save me._

_Callum is going to save me._

His mind focused on that singular thought, repeating it over and over, until sleep inevitably took him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read chapter 1. I was not expecting this magnitude of response. I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations!
> 
> While researching the characters, I noticed that there seemed to be a discrepancy between how Runaan was portrayed in season 1, and how the writers described him after the fact. I'm guessing the writing team wanted to take his character a different direction than originally planned, which is why they soft-retconned some of his motivations. The Runaan in this story is my interpretation of his character based solely on what I've seen in season 1. I have not read the book, which may hammer out some more nuance in his character, so please understand if his character differed from canon. I think it makes for a more interesting story anyhow.
> 
> Synopsis:   
> Rayla physically blocks Runaan from harming Ezran. Rayla tells Runaan about how the egg might still be alive. Runaan is skeptical, but eventually allows Callum to attempt to retrieve it, while holding Ezran hostage. Callum is told that if he returns with the egg before sunrise, Ezran would be released. Callum takes Bait with him in order to see in the tunnels, leaving Ezran alone with Runaan and Rayla. Some time after Callum leaves, Runaan reveals that Ezran is going to die in the morning regardless of if the Dragon Prince is returned. And he makes it clear that he expects Rayla to perform the deed. In the process, Ezran learns that his father is already dead. He has trouble falling asleep, but eventually dozes off.   
> Meanwhile, Viren is relieved to see the egg is still in his possession, so he leads the first day of the seven-day mourning of the dead King.


	3. Introspection

The full moon was at its zenith, basking Castle Katolis in it’s cool glow. Callum had made his way through the forest, and had just now arrived at the town outside the Citadel. His heart quivered when he saw that the drawbridge was still lowered, and the gate opened. Normally the castle was locked down each night.

_Something important must be happening._

A sense of dread enveloped Callum as he made his way through the midnight streets, heading towards the entrance of the castle. Alongside him were others in dark clothes, some holding candles, and others clasping their hands together in prayer. There was no mistaking their meaning. He had seen people like this once before. His worst fear had been realized. 

These people were mourning the death of a monarch. 

King Harrow was dead.

Callum sat down on the cobblestone road as a flood of emotions fought for control of his body. 

First came the anger. He was angry at Runaan and Rayla, they were obviously responsible for the assassination, but his anger went beyond his enemies. 

He was angry at Soren for not looking hard enough during the search for the camp. He regretted backing down in his attempt to join the search party. If only he had been a part of it, he surely would have found the elves. 

He was angry at Viren and Claudia. They had so many magical abilities, surely one of their spells would have helped here. They must not have been trying hard enough. Callum wished he were a mage like them, he would have figured something out if that were the case.

His anger quickly made room for regret to creep in. Callum blamed Harrow for his Mom’s death. From that point onwards, he had held Harrow to such unreasonable standards, and he rebuffed any attempts at closure that the King extended. Callum kicked himself for all the times he retreated to his room whenever the Harrow asked him to join board game night. All the times he ate dinner in absolute silence, letting attempts at conversation go to waste. 

His regrets kept piling on, but began to mix with fear. What would become of him? What would become of Katolis? How on earth was Ezran supposed to take charge of an entire country? 

As soon as he thought about Ezran, his fear turned to panic. His heart raced, and his breathing intensified. Ezran was on death’s door. And Callum was the only person who had a chance to save him. He had to sneak into the most heavily fortified place in Katolis, enter a secret chamber, and hope that a mythical Dragon Egg was there. It was an absurd task. It was the sort of task that one of the heroes from his adventure books would find themselves in. But Callum knew he wasn’t a hero. He couldn’t use a sword. He couldn’t ride a horse. He couldn’t make speeches. He couldn’t run fast. He couldn’t shoot a bow. He was weak. He was small. He was clumsy. He was foolish. He was flimsy. He was powerless. He was alone. He was…

_Breathe._

Sarai’s voice cut through Callum’s thoughts, and forced his rapid fire breaths to abate. This was his first panic attack in years, but he still recalled his mother’s wisdom.

_Just Breathe._

Callum closed his eyes, and pushed all his thoughts to the side for now and focused solely on his mother’s advice. He held a deep breath.

_Hand._

Callum grabbed his sketchbook, feeling the masterwork bindings and textured leather cover. This was his most treasured possession. He poured his heart and soul into every drawing contained within. Inside it were detailed instructions on how to proceed.

He exhaled, then took another deep breath.

_Head._

Callum remembered what it was like inside the castle, all the hallways and rooms, all the books in the library, and all the weapons in the armory. This was his home. He knew the place inside and out. 

His breathing was steadying. He took one last breath.

_Heart._

Callum pictured Ezran. The innocent smile during the games they played, the mischievous grin when they pulled pranks on Barius, and the determined smirk throughout all the make-believe adventures they embarked on. Everything Callum did, he did for his brother. 

He let out his last big breath. His heartbeat had returned to normal. His breaths full, steady, and voluminous.

There was nobody in the world better suited for this task than he was. He would follow the instructions, traverse the castle, and save his brother. He didn’t need to be a hero. He just needed to be Callum.

* * *

Claudia sat on the edge of Soren’s hospital bed. He had few injuries, but poison was detected on some of the assassin’s weapons, so even the smallest wounds were treated with the utmost care. Apart from the few minutes Claudia brought him to mourn the King, Soren had remained bedridden. Normally Soren would have energetically resisted being confined to a single place, but tonight, he just laid still. His mood was… depressing to say the least. 

“What’s wrong Sor-bear?” Claudia teased.

“I’m a failure.” Soren replied instantly. The melancholy was evident in his voice.

“No you’re not. I won’t let you say that. You fought off two MOONSHADOW ELF assassins at the SAME TIME! You killed two out of the five attackers. That’s ALMOST HALF! You’re a hero!”

“My job was to protect the King. I failed. It doesn’t matter how many I killed.”

“You did as much as you could. Nobody can ask for more than that. Nobody is disappointed in you.” 

Claudia hated seeing Soren so downtrodden. His upbeat attitude always brightened up her days. With how stressed Dad had been lately, it was the one thing she had to look forward to each morning. 

“I even let one of them escape. He could be hunting down Ezran as we speak.” Soren said gloomily.

“It’s already under control. The standing battalion will meet them at the Banther Lodge, and message crows have already been sent to General Amaya. She knows what happened, and she will take care of Ezran.”

“Even if he’s fine, he has to come home to a dead father. Can you imagine how you’d feel if Dad had died instead of the King? Ezran and Callum must hate me. And I deserve it.”

Claudia was a bit concerned with how Ezran and Callum would react when they learned the news. She hoped Callum would talk things through with her, but Callum would probably just shut himself in his room for a couple weeks before talking to anyone. It’s how he dealt with Sarai’s death. Normally he was so open about his feelings, and it hurt Claudia to not be there for him when he needed it.

Soren interrupted her thoughts “Now you’re the one looking down in the dumps. What’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

“Oh, I’m worried about Ezran and Callum too. But believe me when I say that they know you did your best. I can only imagine how awesome you must have been up there, fighting two at once.” 

Soren cheered up, just a little bit. “Oh yeah! I was super awesome. I had my sword… It was… pretty good I guess.” He calmed himself down, recognizing that it wasn’t the right time or place to be excited. “It was pretty good.” He repeated.

Claudia was happy that some light was brought back into her brother’s eyes. “It will turn out fine. I promise. I need you to be there with me when they return. We need to be strong for their sake. Can you do that with me?”

Soren thought for a long time on that proposition. Then he allowed a smile to cross his face.

“You bet Clauds. Anything for you.”

* * *

Callum discreetly pulled at the door to the Bakery, but of course it was locked. He had entered the castle without anyone recognizing him, but it would only be a matter of time before someone noticed the odd glowing bulge in his cloak. Bait simply would not stay dim. He looked around the building, and saw one of the windows was ajar, he could climb in that way. Before he did something so brash, he checked the instructions in his sketchbook one last time.

  * **Enter Bakery**


  * **Pull on the grate in the back wall at ground level, enter.**


  * **Replace the grate, and head left. You’ll probably have to crawl.**



Callum looked for the grate through the bakery window, and he saw it. It was about half a meter tall, he would definitely have to crawl. He scanned the crowd from under his hood. He couldn’t see anyone watching him. It was now or never.

He opened the window all the way, and climbed through it, closing the window behind him.

“THIEF!” screeched a woman in the distance.

“IN THE BAKERY!” shouted a man.

Callum's heart raced. He had to move fast. He rushed over to the grate, and thankfully it came off with little resistance. There were crashes on the bakery door, someone opened the window. There was inscrutable shouting. He crouched down and squeezed into the vent. He struggled to turn around, but just managed to replace the grate before Barius came barging into the shop. 

“Who goes there? Have you no shame?” He sounded very upset.

Callum didn’t have time to deal with the aftermath of his infiltration. He turned left, and crawled along the passageway, leaving the poor baker to wonder where the supposed interloper was. 

After some time, the small vent opened into a more reasonably sized hallway. Callum took Bait, who looked even grumpier than usual, out of his cloak and let him sit on his shoulder. Callum and Bait never got along too well, but Bait somehow must have understood the enormity of the situation because he cooperated for the time being.

A dim yellow glow emanated from the surly glow toad, allowing Callum to read his sketchbook once again. The next couple instructions were pretty straightforward, and without the threat of being discovered, his weary heart was allowed to relax once again.

Callum made his way through the maze of tunnels, before finally ending up at the part that worried him most, the rock and stone wall. Callum had studied the drawing at least a dozen times, and could never make complete sense of it. Now that he had the actual wall in front of him, it made even less sense. The drawing was nowhere near accurate. There were at least 3 times more rocks on the actual wall than there were in the drawing. How was he supposed to push the right ones?

Callum set Bait down on the ground, and got down on one knee to study the drawings up close. He knew he had to push the buttons in a certain order, but he had no way of knowing if the button he was pushing was correct.

Callum put his fingers to his temples 

_Think, Think, Think._

Bait started licking the rocks, which shook Callum out of his trance.

“Stop that, you might mess up the puzzle.” Callum said while pulling Bait away. However, Callum stopped in his tracks when he saw the faint orange stain on the rock Bait was licking. It was a tiny jelly handprint!

“Bait! You’re a genius!” Callum exclaimed.

He studied the instructions, and used the jelly handprints in conjunction with the drawing in the sketchbook to deduce the correct rocks to push.

With a quivering hand, Callum pressed the first stone, then the next, then the next, all the way until he was on the last one.

For a heart-wrenching moment, nothing happened. He was about to try again before the ground beneath his feet began to shake. He backed into a corner as a spiral staircase descended from the floor. For half a minute, he just stood with his jaw on the floor. It was a mechanical contraption like none he had ever seen. 

_Who had built this? Is it powered by magic? How long has this been here?_

He forced himself to ignore the staircase for now and focus on saving Ezran. At the bottom of this staircase, underneath a cloth, should be a Storm Archdragon Egg. Trepidatiously, Callum tip-toed down the surprisingly sturdy stone staircase, and entered the secret chamber.

The room was a vast collection of books, animal parts, and mysterious objects. The shelves were lined with jars and vials filled with bones and fluids of dubious origin. The whole place reeked of death. This was the lair of a dark magician. Callum shuddered to think what could bring a man like Viren to store so many expired body parts in this musty room. What sorts of dark magic experiments he performed here. 

_Does Claudia know about this room?_

It was an important question to him. Callum always seen Claudia as more humane and caring than Viren. 

_She wouldn’t do this sort of thing to innocent creatures, would she?_

Callum shook his head, letting those thoughts go for now. He was here for one reason, the egg. 

In the center of the room, on a fancy pedestal, there was an egg-shaped object wrapped in a cloth. That had to be it. Callum lept towards it, and gently lifted the covering.

The room was suddenly bathed in a cool, blue light. The egg was mesmerizing. It sparkled, it pulsated. Unlike everything else in that room, this egg was alive. It gave off joy, hope, confidence. This was what he was looking for. In the end, he had managed to find it. 

“It’s going to be alright Ezran. I’m coming back for you!”

* * *

Rayla was pulled from her slumber by a firm hand on her shoulder. Runaan was waking her for her turn at watch. She yawned and rubbed her groggy eyes. Content that she was awake, Runaan collapsed into his own spot on the ground. Rayla hadn’t even had time to climb a tree before his gentle snores echoed around the campsite.

In truth, Rayla had done very little sleeping in the past couple hours. She had trouble grappling with the cruelty Runaan showed towards Ezran. In all her years as his surrogate child, he had never once used such brutality as discipline. Sure, he had a fiery temper, but the severity of his actions never surpassed yelling. 

Hearing the slap after Ezran voiced a genuine concern was jarring, even frightening. Knowing that the man who she looked up to was capable of such sadistic actions. It made her question his wisdom, question all his past advice. 

Rayla settled into a comfortable spot in the tree branches and began scanning the woodline around her camp. 

_Runaan always wants what is best for me and the Silvergrove. There must have been a good reason to hit Ezran that I just hadn’t thought about yet._ She thought hopefully.

Her mind brainstormed through the possibilities. Perhaps he was worried Ezran would escape during the night, and used terror to keep him obedient. Maybe it was punishment for some rude gesture Ezran made, that she couldn’t see. It could be that he was treating Ezran the same way the humans would treat her if she was taken prisoner.

But none of those made sense in this situation. The more she thought about it, the more clear it became that Runaan had hit Ezran out of malice. All her life, the elves in the Silvergrove taught that humans were the most pathetic, wicked, savage, and corrupt creatures on the planet. Runaan certainly embodied that belief. Nearly every night at dinner, he would find something new to grumble about humans, how they ate too much, how they hoarded money, how they complained about everything, on and on without end. Ethari never joined in, but he certainly didn’t put a stop to it. 

Runaan saw all humans as unworthy of even the most basic respect. Their emotions and individuality was unimportant to him. It was the only explanation for his cruelty against Ezran. Maybe that attitude towards them is what made him such a good assassin. He truly did not see a moral dilemma with killing a human. It was just a target to be methodically removed. 

_Why am I an assassin then? Is this the right job for me?_

She had trained to become an assassin at Runaan’s suggestion. He claimed that loyal service to the Dragon Queen would detach her from her parent’s legacy of cowardice, and allow her to become exonerated within the community. Ethari advocated against becoming an assassin, citing the moral difficulties she would face. In the end, like almost all disagreements between her two surrogate parents, Runaan got his way, and the matter was never brought up again.

She was an assassin because it was best for her future. And she just had to deal with some difficulties in the present to realize the benefits. Runaan’s cruelty was just his way of dealing with the difficulties of the job. And while Rayla certainly wouldn’t copy his method, the final result, a detachment from the morality of the situation, was one that she intended to achieve one way or another.

She directed her thoughts back to the present; Runaan expected her to kill Ezran in the morning, and gave sound reasoning for it. In his words, the humans took the Dragon Prince such that the Queen would never see him again. It was only justice if the same was done for the humans. It would be fair if they never saw their prince again.

But it still seemed so wrong. 

_What choice do I have? If I don’t kill him, then Runaan probably will, and then he’ll probably kill me for being a traitor._

_I could run away, he couldn’t catch me with his injured leg. But then I’d be ghosted, I would have no home. And Ezran would be dead anyways._

_I could fight him off and let Ezran escape, but then on top of losing my home, I’d lose my hand. I can’t live alone in the wilderness forever. Especially with only half my hands._

The obvious, logical choice was to do what Runaan asked, and kill Ezran. She hated it. She loathed it. She dreaded it. But it was the only reasonable choice for her to make.

A part of her hoped that Callum wouldn’t return. Then the killing would be easy. It would mean Ezran had lied. It would be much easier to kill someone who had demonstrably sinned. But even if Callum did bring back the egg, she had still made up her mind.

She would kill Ezran when the time came. Swiftly, painlessly, and decisively.

Her watch passed uneventfully. The full moon was nearly at the horizon when Runaan began to stir. Still Callum did not show himself.

Runaan meandered over to her position. “It looks like the egg was just another lie. Have you given thought to what we discussed?”

“I have. And I am prepared to do what you want. To do what is necessary.” Rayla replied somberly. She made no effort to hide the disdain in her voice.

“If you want it to be painless, you should do it now while he still slumbers.”

“No. You promised it wouldn’t happen until sunrise. I won’t kill him a second before then.”

“Have it your way.” Runaan limped back to the camp supplies to start making a morning meal.

Just then, a faint trampling sound could be heard getting closer. It was the footsteps of a single person. Runaan heard the sound shortly after her. They both turned towards the direction of the noise. The forest in that direction began to take on a blue hue, getting brighter with every passing second.

“It can’t be!” Runaan said in disbelief.

Rayla scrunched her face in discomfort as Callum came out from behind a tree, holding the most beautiful object she had ever seen. The glowing, sparkling egg, just like how Runaan and Ethari had described it to her all those years ago. On one hand, she was elated that the Dragon Prince was real, but her heart dropped farther into her stomach than it ever had before. 

This was going to be the worst day of her life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of big feelings in this one. I revised so much during the making of this chapter, but I think the final result was worth it. Next chapter will have a lot more action, but I think it is necessary to have some slower chapters like this one. Thank you to everyone who has kept up so far, and thanks to all the new people hopping in just now. The positive response to this work has quite frankly blown me away. I would love to keep going for as long as you keep enjoying it!


	4. Brain and Brawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter depicts violence against children. If this is a topic you wish to avoid, there is a synopsis of this chapter in the end notes.

Beams of maroon pierced the indigo eastern sky as the first hints of the sunrise enveloped the horizon. Ezran was already starting to rouse from his uneasy sleep when the loud voices of his surrounding caused him to snap awake. The memory of last night’s terror was front and center on his mind. His eyes shot open and he immediately searched for Runaan, his tormentor. Runaan was close to him, just a few steps away, but for the moment, he was focused on something in the treeline, and away from him. 

The rest of last night’s nightmare, the dragon egg, the sunrise deadline, and Callum’s departure, all came back shortly after. It was still dark out, but it would be morning soon. Ezran looked around the camp, searching desperately for his brother. His heart leapt when he saw him just outside the camp, carrying the exact same dragon egg Ezran had seen in Viren’s dungeon yesterday.

_ He did it! _

“I made it!” Callum wheezed. He was clearly out of breath, but he had a very large grin on his face. He was proud of what he had accomplished.

_ Wait. He doesn’t know. I need to warn him! _

“Callum! D--”

Runaan’s hand shot out and grabbed Ezran’s jaw, squeezing his cheeks together. His mouth was forced open by the pressure, and the inside of his cheeks started to chafe against his teeth. The panic from last night returned with a vengeance. Ezran squirmed around to get away from the monster, but Runaan’s grip was unyielding.

“Auauauauagh guuchgch rauauauch.” Was all he could say. Ezran tried to remove Runaan’s hand with his own, but that only caused Runaan to squeeze tighter. Ezran began to taste blood from his cheeks. 

“HEY!” Callum yelled.

“Give Rayla the egg and I’ll let Ezran go as promised.” Runaan said calmly. 

Callum looked mortified. He began to walk towards Rayla, who had hopped down from her tree, and held out the egg towards her.

_ NO! Don’t give it!  _

As soon as they had the egg, there would be nothing stopping them from killing him. The proximity to death caused a strange mix of panic and clarity of mind. Ezran wished he could make Callum hear his thoughts; he wished he could communicate somehow without talking.

_ THAT’S IT! SIGN LANGUAGE! _

Ezran stopped fighting Runaan’s grip, and began contorting his right hand into the symbols he had memorized. He didn’t know any words in sign language, but Aunt Amaya had taught him the alphabet. That should be enough to get a warning across.

**D - O - N - T - G - I - V - E**

Callum saw the signs. He was one step away from handing the egg over, when he abruptly pulled the egg back, and took a step away from Rayla.

_ It worked! _ Ezran thought while fighting through the pain in his cheeks. 

“What’s the matter with you boy?” Runaan shouted. 

Callum was focusing intently on Ezran’s hand. He had to explain as much as possible.

**K - I - L - L - M**

“His hands!” Rayla exclaimed, following Callum’s gaze.

**E - A - N - Y - W**

Runaan looked at Ezran’s hands, and saw the symbols. Ezran felt a hard knock on his left ankle, which launched his leg out from under him. While struggling to find balance, Runaan shoved Ezran backwards into the dirt. The landing was hard, Ezran’s head whipped backwards and hit the ground, leaving him dizzy. Next came a flashing pain in his right hand, along with the * **Crunch*** of bones breaking under a boot. 

Time came to a stop. The only thing Ezran was cognizant of was the unceasing agony. His hand was curled into a fist when Runaan stomped down on it. His bones and joints were crushed into unnatural positions, sending bolts of pain through his arm, which drowned out all other senses and thoughts.

Ezran didn’t even recognize that he was screaming until a couple seconds later. Even so, his cry of anguish was cut off by the same boot pressing down on his sternum. Breathing became excruciatingly difficult. Ezran tried to relieve the pressure with his good hand, but his strength was pitiful, and any difference was unnoticeable.

Ezran let his mangled hand lay still in the dirt while he regained control of his other senses. He could make out Callum screaming profanities while Runaan laughed maniacally. 

“YOU SAID YOU’D SPARE HIM!” Callum yelled, his fury evident even through tears.

“I said I would consider it, and rest assured I did.” Runaan declared while assembling his swords into a bow. “Ezran is going to die regardless. Now give Rayla the egg unless you want to join him.”

“NO! LET HIM GO!” Callum continued to back away from Rayla.

Runaan nocked an arrow and pointed his bow at Callum. “You don’t have a choice. I could kill you right now if I were so inclined to.”

“Not with that shoulder.” Callum’s voice had quieted down, and had a distinct tremor to it, as if he didn’t trust his own words.

Ezran had a good vantage of Runaan’s shoulder from down on the ground, and sure enough, the heavy bandages and gauze on his left shoulder was evidence of a large injury there. A scowl shot across Runaan’s face. He slowly lowered his bow, while simultaneously increasing the pressure on Ezran’s chest. Breathing became impossible. He struggled to maintain the air he already had.

“Hnggggg... gaaaah… gruuuuhhhh.”

“GET OFF HIM NOW, OR I WILL SMASH THIS.” Callum demanded. His rage from earlier had returned. He held the egg high over his head.

There was a short time where neither Callum, Runaan, or Rayla did anything, just standing and staring at each other. Ezran was losing feeling in his limbs from the lack of oxygen. 

After nearly half a minute, Runaan gave one more hard push out of spite, then released his leg. Ezran took an anguished breath and broke down into tears. He was hurting all over, and his initial hope upon seeing Callum had all evaporated. He crawled away from the torturer while sobbing in despair. Even with the egg, Runaan did not waver about his decision to kill him. There did not seem to be a scenario where he came out of this alive.

“Rayla, pack your things. We’re leaving.”

“What about the Dragon Prince?”

“Don’t worry, noble Callum here will bring it along, won’t he?”

Callum was not pleased. “No. Stay here or the Dragon Prince dies.”

Runaan called his bluff “If that’s the case, you may as well smash it now. But you and I both know you won’t.”

Callum looked visibly uncomfortable. Ezran understood that the egg’s existence in Callum’s arms was the only reason he was still alive. Callum slowly lowered the egg back to chest level. He looked crestfallen.

“There’s a good lad.” Runaan’s condescending voice reappeared for a moment before returning to its deadly serious tone, “I hope you realize that you don’t win this. Ezran is coming with us to Xadia. If you ever leave my sight, Ezran is dead. If you ever drop your guard for a second, one of us will kill you and take the egg. You can’t stay awake forever.”

Ezran hadn’t realized until now that Callum had been awake all night getting the egg. The exhaustion was evident on his face. Ezran couldn’t imagine how tired he must have been.

“Come Ezran, let’s get you to Xadia!” Runaan said in mock excitement.

Runaan grabbed Ezran by the backpack, and hoisted him up to his feet. Ezran let out a groan of pain as the sudden movement jerked his disfigured hand. He used his good hand to support the forearm and mitigate the agony.

With a shove, Runaan set forth towards the east. Despite the noticeable limp in his step, Runaan’s pace was just slightly faster than a comfortable walking speed for Ezran. Rayla, who had finished packing the essential items from the campsite, was following a couple paces behind. Callum and Bait were even farther behind, carrying the Dragon Prince with them. 

All Ezran could do was cradle his mangled hand, and place one foot in front of the other. 

Since he was going to die soon, nothing else mattered. 

* * *

Soren was woken by Claudia roughly shaking him awake. 

“Soren. We need to leave. Dad needs your help to hunt down the assassin that got away.”

Soren only heard every other word through his groggy mind. But he still got the gist of the message.

“Oh. But what about the poison?” Soren responded.

The next voice surprisingly belonged to Viren, his dad. He must have just now entered the hospital. “You have already received the antidote. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

“Oh, I wasn’t afraid, It’s just that these doctor people are super smart, so I thought I better listen to them.”

“Well take it from me, you are fine. Now get up. I need you ready to depart in 15 minutes.”

Soren was excited. This was a chance to make up for his failures of yesterday.

_ Dad still trusts me! _

Soren leapt out of his cot, and sprinted into the armory. He equipped his trusty set of armor faster than he ever had before, and jogged into the stable to mount his favorite horse.

Exactly 13 minutes after Viren sent him, he was standing before the portcullis, ready for Claudia and Dad to join him.

Right before they could set forth, They were interrupted by the stupid voice of Opeli. Soren really didn’t like her. She always focused on doing things properly instead of smartly. She was always getting in Dad’s way.

“Where do you think you are going Lord Viren?” She demanded.

Viren rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Not now Lady Opeli. I have important matters I must attend to.”

“In the King’s absence, you have a duty to govern the Kingdom with the rest of the council. I will not allow you to shirk your duty to play hero!”

“You think I am on a quest for personal glory? The task I am about to undertake concerns the very survival of Katolis. Now I have no time for your petty semantics. Goodbye.”

Soren beamed. It always made him so happy to watch his dad win arguments with people. He never understood everything that they were saying, but his dad was the smartest person he knew. He must have been right. 

Without another word Viren exited the castle, followed by Soren and Claudia. It had been years since the three of them had gone on a mission together. But Soren knew that with his brawn, and Claudia and Dad’s brain, there was no foe they could not best. 

_ Let’s kick some elf ass _ .

* * *

Callum was drained. His movements were sluggish, he had to repeat thoughts three times before they stuck, and his mentality was miserable. He had worked so hard to bring this heavy dragon egg out of the castle, and now all his efforts seemed to be worthless. Ezran was suffering, and his death seemed certain.

For the entire day, Callum had been desperately trying to formulate a plan in spite of his sleep-deprived mind constantly sabotaging his train of thought. He had come up with one hail mary idea, but it would require him to stay awake for a couple hours more. Runaan kept looking back at him at irregular intervals, sending pulses of dread through Callum’s veins. It was so difficult to keep his eyes up and watch the elves, while also maintaining his footing in the harsh undergrowth of this newly-foraged path. 

The dragon egg felt heavier with each passing minute. He couldn’t put it in his backpack, or else his threat of destroying it would no longer hold any water. His arms burned from the constant effort, but it couldn’t possibly compare to the pain Ezran must be in, so he persisted.

His self-confidence from last night had all but evaporated. He thought he was coming to save Ezran, but in the end, he only magnified his brother’s suffering. He just stood by while Runaan tortured Ezran. His last-second idea to hold the Dragon Prince hostage seemed to only delay the inevitable, and Ezran’s regular groans of pain were a stark reminder that his stopgap solution had only really accomplished extending the agony his brother was in. 

He had a vague plan, but he had few reasons to believe it would be successful. Still, he owed it to his brother to give it his best shot. If they were going to die, there wasn’t really a way to make things worse.

And so he waited for the perfect moment.

The sun was dropping low in the sky when he saw what he was looking for, a familiar scene of trees and brooks. He had been here before. He had climbed that tree before. He had played in that brook before. 

They were close to the Banther Lodge. He knew where to go to get there. The time to act was now.

He hadn’t slept in two days, and he hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch. But a shot of adrenaline gave him more energy than he had felt all day. The anticipation of what was going to happen focused his thoughts, and invigorated his body. 

_ This is the last chance I have. I’m going to make it work. _

He took a deep breath, then exhaled. He sang a low hum to steady his voice, then he spoke.

“Have you all met Bait?”

“Yes,” Said Rayla.

“Shut up” Said Runaan.

Ezran perked up upon hearing this. Callum knew Ezran would close his eyes when the flash came. But he would have to lead his brother towards the Lodge. There was no way Ez would remember which direction it was.

“Say hello to my little friend!”

Rayla looked over, confused. “What?”

Runaan turned his head around, he was visibly angry. “I said SH…”

***FLASH***

Callum set the heavy egg down into the ground. Either this plan worker, or he was dead. The egg served no more purpose, it would only slow him down. He leaped past the staggered Rayla, and bounded towards Runaan. He was fully prepared to get violent in order to free Ezran, but it turned out that was unnecessary. Runaan was holding Ezran’s backpack this whole time, and Ezran had already slipped his arms through the straps. He was free. 

Callum grabbed Ezran’s good wrist, and yanked him towards the direction of the Banther Lodge. They had to reach it before the elves caught up, and they had to hope that somebody was there that could help. Ezran understood the situation, and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.

It was a long shot, but it was their only chance.

* * *

Rayla fell down and covered her eyes. The blinding light persisted in her vision, drowning out her other senses. She felt around, trying to see the objects she was touching. 

“GET AFTER THEM!” Runaan roared.

“I can’t see!” Rayla responded.

After a couple minutes, she could make out the outlines of the objects right next to her. Slowly, the distance she could see increased. Color returned after that, first the blues, then greens, then yellows, and finally reds.

The first distinctive object she saw was the egg of the Dragon Prince.

“They left the egg! We have the egg!” She exclaimed, hoping that Runaan would take that as enough of a victory.

“I’ll bring it with me. You are faster; finish the mission. I’ll catch up.”

Her hope was dashed. It was foolish to believe that he would be willing to settle for less than perfection. He wanted to have his moonberry surprise and eat it too.

Even though they were long out of sight, Callum and Ezran left a trail of destruction in the forest floor that would make them simple to track. Rayla ran after them, arms behind her back. 

Now that she was out of the presence of her overbearing surrogate father, her doubts began to creep back. She was appalled by all the suffering Runaan had inflicted on Ezran these past two days. She always thought an assassin's job was to kill efficiently, without pain. But Runaan’s bestial treatment of the human seemed to indicate that he didn’t interpret the job the same way she did. 

More than ever, she doubted that this job was right for her. Surely there must be some other career that could remove the shame of her parent’s failure. A part of her wanted to take this opportunity to run away. Ezran had suffered enough, and the Dragon Prince was firmly in their control now. But the consequences of doing so would be too devastating. She was so close to being vindicated of her mistakes. Killing one hurting human boy would be worth it to her if it meant she could become a respected member of the Silvergrove. 

She would not fail like her parents did. She would be strong where they were weak.

So she ran on.

She saw a large wooden structure in the distance. She could just make out the two boys she was chasing squeezing into the doorway and slamming it shut. 

She doubled her efforts. They were so close, and they had no promise of the Dragon Prince to protect themselves anymore.

_ This is it. The moment of truth. _

* * *

Corvus sat concealed in the woods just outside of the Banther Lodge. General Amaya had departed for Castle Katolis a couple hours ago, leaving him to keep watch in case Ezran and Callum showed up.

His attention snapped towards the Southern edge of the woods, where he heard the sound of rustling leaves.

_ Could it be? _

Two boys barged through the wall of trees, running towards the Lodge at full speed. Their movements were frantic. They were running away from something.

Quickly, Corvus began writing a letter.

_ General Amaya, _

_ It is my pleasure to report that The King and Prince have arrived. _

The boys slammed the door to the Lodge. Just then, a third figure emerged from the treeline. An elf! Corvus hastened his writing, ignoring all pleasantries and grammar considerations.

_ 1 Elf chases _

_ Come now _

_ Corvus _

He rolled up the letter, and gave it to the one crow he was beholden to. The elf had just entered the building. He tossed the bird into the air, then retrieved his chain, and followed. 

He didn’t see the second elf hobbling through the forest in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where I live, winter decided to happen all at once, in one weekend. Since I can't really do much else, I had time to knock this out faster than I normally would. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Synopsis: Callum is about to give the egg back in exchange for Ezran, but Ezran uses sign language to warn Callum about Runaan's plan to kill him anyways. Callum threatens to smash the egg if any harm comes to Ezran, which causes an uneasy truce. Runaan leads ezran back towards Xadia, content that Callum will have to sleep sometime, and he could take the egg then. Callum has no choice but to follow. After nearly an entire day, Callum recognizes the part of the woods they were in as being close to the Banther Lodge. He gets Bait to flash Rayla and Runaan, drops the egg, and takes off running with Ezran towards the Lodge. Rayla chases them, with Runaan limping behind.
> 
> Corvus sees the boys run into the lodge, and Rayla following them. He sends a crow message to general Amaya, then goes in.
> 
> Meanwhile, Soren, Claudia, and Viren depart from the castle to hunt down the assassin that escaped.


	5. Blood Price, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this chapter contains a the death of a major character. If you would like to avoid reading this, there is a synopsis in the end notes.

Corvus quietly entered the Banther Lodge, hoping he would catch the elf assassin off guard. The first thing he noticed were the two small pairs of boots just across the threshold. 

_ Smart thinking, Prince Callum. No muddy footprints to follow. _

Ezran and Callum must have hidden themselves somewhere in this building. It was Corvus’ job to make sure the enemy never found them.

He immediately saw the elf. To his surprise, she was extremely young, but Corvus did not doubt her skill in battle. His time with the General at the Breach had given him a large respect for the combat faculty of elves in general, and moonshadow elves in particular. Not only were they lightning fast, but their weapons were sharper, and their senses more attuned. 

This elf was too busy opening cabinets to notice him yet. It gave Corvus a chance to come up with a general plan for the duel that was about to commence. She had two small daggers, one in each hand. If they were like other moonshadow weapons, then they would have a second form they could transform into. Corvus prayed the alternate form wasn’t ranged. His biggest advantage at the moment was the distance his chain could strike from. If she got close to him, there was no way he would win.

Taking no chances, he launched his weapon towards her center of mass, where it would be hardest to dodge. A hit to the torso would be just as effective at ending the fight as a hit to the head. 

The elf heard the sound of his chain unfurling, and turned around to block the strike with her left knife at the last possible second. Prepared for this possibility, Corvus jerked the chain in order to whip it around her weapon, and pull the blade free from her grasp. The hook at the end of the chain struck the back of her hand, biting into the flesh between her third and fourth finger. Corvus yanked the chain with all his strength, ripping the hook free, and bringing one the daggers along for the ride. A spurt of blood followed the knife in an arc, before falling to the floor of the large hall.

Years ago, Corvus would have scoffed at the idea of such a dirty sneak attack. But his time in the standing battalion had taught him that there was no such thing as an honorable fight when it came to moonshadow elves. They used poison, stealth, ambushes, and utilized every other advantage they had at their disposal. It would be suicide not to do the same.

While he had hoped for the fight to end in one strike, Corvus was nevertheless satisfied with the results of his initial attack. He had partially disarmed the female elf, and likely conditioned her to avoid blocking a strike with her remaining blade. Now he had to focus on keeping her at a safe distance. Even with only one dagger, he would be defeated very quickly if she was allowed to get in close. 

Corvus retrieved the dagger that was skidding along the floor, and placed it on his belt so that she wouldn’t have access to it. The elf took a brief moment to examine her injury, then placed her arm inside her vest and ran forward to close the distance. Corvus gripped the chain higher up, trading some length for a faster whip speed. Too long a chain, and the elf would penetrate his defense in the long gaps between swings. Too short, and the chain would have far too little force to deter the quick-footed elf. He swung the hook surely, always thwarting the elf’s attempts to move in closer. He slowly moved towards the center of the room, where there were fewer obstacles the elf could use to her advantage.

He was prepared for this fight to last a long time. Even if he didn’t kill the assassin, simply prolonging the fight a sufficient amount would mean General Amaya could arrive and finish the job. The reports from Castle Katolis said that only one assassin escaped, which meant this young elf was not going to have the same luxury of reinforcements. 

_ I will protect my King. Whatever it takes. _

* * *

Rayla had never seen a weapon like this before. 

She tried again and again to get into close-quarters combat, but the vicious hook was always there, blocking her path. It took all her concentration to avoid getting hit. She ducked, weaved, and jumped around the fierce grapnel. She could feel the blood from her hand soaking into her shirt. Another hit from that weapon would undoubtedly kill her. 

She tried to approach from below, ducking under the first swing, then running down low. The hook came around at an angle, and she was forced to jump away. She tried to approach from above, jumping over the first swing, but the hook came around before she had even landed. She dropped to the floor to avoid the whip, and was forced to roll away.

Everything she tried was rebuffed. She didn’t dare block the weapon, after what had happened the first time. She took a step back and tried to find a pattern, any weakness. The human made the chain longer, and she was forced to retreat even farther. She climbed the nearby stairs into the second floor, daring the human to bring the fight to more confined quarters, but he just extended the chain yet again, and continued striking at her at range.

Rayla jumped down and closed the distance again, hoping that the longer chain would be easier to maneuver around, but the human simply shortened the chain again, and she was back to square one. 

Never before had she felt so hopeless in a fight. In all her sparring matches, she would either win outright, or she would lose while understanding what she could have done better. She did not understand what she could possibly do to best this human. Worse, this was no sparring match, it was life or death. 

Rayla just barely ducked under the next attack. The human was starting to predict her dodges. She jumped over the next one, but he yanked the chain upwards at the last second, and the weapon struck her lower leg. Her boot blunted the barbed hook, but the bladed edge of the grapnel still left a long, shallow cut along her calf.

Rayla leapt backwards. The human had less fine control of the whip the longer it was. It was safer to be farther away from him. The pain in her hand and leg was dull due to adrenaline, but still a constant presence on her mind. A glance to her leg was all she needed to confirm that the damage was superficial, but she knew her hand was much worse. Much worse. 

On its own that would have been bad enough, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to win this fight. Once again, when it mattered most, she could not deliver. Runaan would see this as yet another failure, Potentially her last.

As if on cue, the door to the lodge was kicked in. Runaan was here. 

* * *

Corvus heard the door, and looked in alarm at the second, much larger moonshadow elf filling the doorway. His hopes of victory were dashed in an instant. This one looked pretty seriously injured, but he knew as a rule of thumb that fighting two enemies was at least four times as difficult as fighting one.

The small elf was already afraid of his weapon, his only chance was to instill that same fear into the large one. He swung his chain at full speed, aiming once again at the center of mass. This one walked with a noticeable limp, dodging seemed unlikely.

Instead of dodging, the large elf simply picked up a wooden stool from the ground, and blocked the whip with it. The grapnel bit into the wood, and stuck. Then, in a flash, the elf grabbed the chain and yanked Corvus forward. Corvus had no choice but to release his weapon. His only advantage disappeared before his eyes. 

Quickly, he reformulated a strategy. The large elf was hobbled. Corvus could outmaneuver him. He drew the dagger he had confiscated earlier, it was impossibly light, but it felt similar to the short swords he used to use. If he could hold his own in one on one combat against the small one, while staying on the move, he might be able to succeed.

Already, the small elf was charging at him. Corvus bounded up the stairs to the second floor where the smaller area was more suitable to defense. He parried the first strike from the female elf, then did a quick stab to test her defense. The elf effortlessly weaved around his strike, and let loose a second attack faster than he could pull back the blade. Corvus used his gauntlet to block the strike, and felt a twinge of pain in his wrist. It wasn’t a big hit, but it was clear he couldn’t take those kinds of risks anymore.

Corvus focused on defense. Block. Parry. Retreat. The elf was very flashy in her strikes, treating the duel almost like a dance. All the while, Corvus led her around the second floor. The large elf was struggling to get himself up the stairs. 

After some time, when the male elf was close by, Corvus bounded down a second staircase back to the ground floor. The large elf let out a common derogatory profanity, but Corvus paid it no mind. The longer he kept this up, the better the chances were that Amaya and her Company would arrive in time to save the King. 

The fight raged on for several more minutes, with Corvus continuing to outmaneuver the large elf while just barely defending against the small one. But he knew he couldn’t keep it up for much longer. His body was beginning to weary. The elf, in contrast, still seemed fresh, launching blow after blow. 

He was taken by surprise when the small elf finally transformed her weapon into some sort of sickle, and reached down low to embed the blade into his boot. Corvus let out a grunt of pain as the steel caught itself among the bones in his foot. The elf pulled his leg forward with a surprising amount of strength, and his exhausted body collapsed to the ground. 

In one last act of desperation, Corvus dropped the dagger and used his two arms to grapple with the elf. He held her sword arm at bay, while using his other hand to try to get a good hold on her. In a stroke of luck, he managed to get a clean shot at her neck. Corvus grabbed tightly, yanked her off her feet, and squeezed as hard as he could. The elf tried to free her windpipe, but Corvus restrained her good right arm, while her bleeding left hand was too weak to do anything. 

The elf’s face began to darken when Corvus saw the large elf hobbling towards him. There was no way he could survive this. The large elf brandished his swords at him, and was about to stab downwards into him. Corvus jerked the body of the female elf around in random directions, preventing the elf from stabbing, in fear of hurting his ally. For another precious few seconds, Corvus kept the fight going. 

Then he was kicked in the head. 

Corvus released his holds, and the female elf gasped for air, and rolled off of him. One second later, the large elf stabbed both swords downwards into his chest. 

Blood seeped into his lungs, and his limbs refused to move. He had no more fight left in him. He had given everything he had to give. As his vision turned to black, one last thought passed through his conscience. It was a question he had no chance of finding out the answer to.

_ Did I do enough? _

* * *

“Are you alright?” Runaan inquired.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Rayla wheezed.

“No you’re not. Let me see.”

Runaan carefully examined her left hand, and winced at the sight. Her fourth finger was hanging on by only a bundle of skin and tendons. No amount of medicine would heal this. The only hope was to get her to the sunforge before the tissue scarred, which seemed impossible. For the time being, he bound the fingers together, and wrapped her entire hand in gauze. Rayla’s frantic breathing began to steady.

_ How could I let this happen? _

He felt like such a fool for bringing his daughter on this mission. He so desperately wanted her to prove her worth that he ignored the obvious signs that she was not ready. Even now, he noticed how Rayla was avoiding looking at the dead human next to them. The human who had come frighteningly close to killing her was still uncomfortable for her to see dead.

_ Is this what Ethari saw that I didn’t? _

Ethari advocated against Rayla’s career choice all those years ago. Runaan was aware of how often he overruled his husband’s point of view, and had been working on improving, but this was the coldest splash of reality he had ever felt. Ethari was right, and now Rayla was going to carry a life-long injury, all because he foolishly sent her into unknown dangers in his obsessive pursuit of Ezran. She could have died.

“I’m sorry Runaan.” Rayla sobbed. “I tried my hardest, but I wasn’t good enough.”

Runaan’s heart broke. Rayla had fought bravely, fiercely, heroically. Runaan could tell that she had given it her all, only falling short due to her lack of experience with foreign weapons. How could she possibly think that wasn’t good enough? 

_ It’s my fault. _

The realization punched him in the gut. All this time, Rayla had been trying to do what she thought was best. She was the reason the Dragon Prince was in his backpack right now. And all the while, he scolded her, demanded she be better, even tried to kill her at one point. No wonder she thought herself a failure.

_ What kind of a father am I? _

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. I should not have sent you alone. That was foolish of me.” Runaan said with a distinct quiver in his voice. “You did well. I am proud of you.” He added.

Rayla looked confused. “But we still haven’t found Ezran. There could be more humans on the way.”

Runaan pulled her up to her feet. “We will find Ezran. But promise me this…”

Runaan handed the backpack containing the dragon egg to his daughter. 

“...At the first sign of trouble. You will leave this place, and take the Dragon Prince back to Xadia. Do you understand?”

“Will you come with me?” Rayla answered the question with a question.

“If it comes to that, I will catch up later. Now, do you promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

Rayla was right. The Dragon Prince was far more important than a human child-king. She had already lost the use of one of her hands to his foolishness. He refused to place her in any more unnecessary danger. 

The two of them split up, and began opening every cabinet, wardrobe, and closet looking for the boys who had slipped through their grasp. 

Runaan knew they were in here somewhere. When he found them, he would give them hell for all the suffering they put Rayla through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally going to have more stuff happen in it, but I soon realized that it would become way too long. So I decided to split it up. I haven't written any of the next section yet, but if my area continues being snowed in, it might be ready quite quickly. Who knows?
> 
> This is the first time I've tried writing a fight scene, so let me know how it goes. I worry a bit that I may have gone into too much detail, but I really wanted to emphasize the different mindsets the characters had going into a fight, like how Corvus is methodical, while Rayla is impulsive. 
> 
> Synopsis:  
> Corvus gets a sneak attack on Rayla, which injures her left hand badly. The two of them fight for a while until Runaan shows up. Corvus is disarmed by Runaan, but uses his mobility to stay away from him. Corvus and Rayla continue fighting for a while until Rayla eventually knocks him down. While on the ground, Corvus starts grappling Rayla, and manages to start choking her, but Runaan kills Corvus before she dies.
> 
> Runaan bandages up Rayla's hand, and realizes how much of a fucking moron he was for sending his 16 year old daughter on a mission to murder the Katolis monarchy. He tells Rayla to take the egg to Xadia if there is any more signs of trouble in the lodge. The two of them then begin searching the Banther Lodge for Callum and Ezran, who are hiding somewhere inside it.


	6. Blood Price, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains the death of a major character. If you wish to avoid reading this, there will be a synopsis at the end of the chapter.

Claudia was excellent at horseback riding. It was taught to all the noble ladies in Katolis during their youth. Pair that with her natural fondness of animals, and she rode with a grace and elegance not seen in anyone else her age. She could ride a horse all day if the situation called for it.

Soren was similarly gifted, but his horse did need more breaks due to his armor and heavier body in general. It was on one of these breaks that Soren asked Claudia where they were going.

“I know we are chasing after the assassin that got away, but how does dad know where that is, exactly?

To be honest, Claudia did not know where exactly they were going. She had figured that Dad would utilize a tracking spell using the horn that had fallen off of the elf during the night of the assassination. However, that spell required them to climb mount Kalik, which was in the opposite direction. 

“I’m not totally sure, Soren. Do you want me to ask him?” Claudia replied.

“Uhh… if you think he won’t mind.”

Claudia laughed. Soren was always so jumpy when it came to talking with Dad. She secretly believed that Soren was scared of him, but she never actually asked him if that was the case.

“Sure thing.” She said confidently while moving towards their father.

“What is it Claudia?” Viren spoke passively

“I thought we would be going to Mount Kalik to use the tracking spell, do you have something else in mind?”

Viren smiled at her. “You’re halfway correct. We will be using the tracking spell, but we’ll be performing the spell at the Gromtor Hills instead of Mount Kalik.”

The confusion must have been evident on Claudia’s face, because Viren continued. “The spell will succeed if the target is at a lower elevation than the caster. So while Mount Kalik is a way to virtually guarantee success, it isn’t strictly necessary. We can deduce that the assassin is heading east, back to Xadia. The only land in that direction that is at a higher elevation than the Gromtor Hills is the Cursed Caldera, which our little assassin would have no reason to be in. The hills are on the way, while Mount Kalik would be another day’s detour.”

“Oh!” Claudia exclaimed. “I never read that part about elevations. The book I read only said that it needs Mount Kalik.”

“Then it must have been an old text. I have done research on many spells like this one and found them to be much more versatile than originally theorized. I’ll have to share some of my old journals with you once we return.”

“I’d LOVE that!” Claudia beamed. Learning more about magic was her favorite pastime. “I’ll tell Soren where we’re going!”

“Hold on!” Viren said. “You may have already deduced why we are hunting this elf in particular…”

“Because he stole the Dragon Prince?” Claudia whispered. 

She had visited the dungeon the morning they left, and saw it was missing. At first, she thought Dad was using it for some experiment, but after he suddenly asked them all to chase after the escaped elf… the pieces just fell into place.

Viren looked somewhat relieved that he didn’t have to break the news. “Yes. He stole the Dragon Prince. You know how important it is that we bring it back with as few others knowing about it as possible.”

“Should I tell Soren?” Claudia asked.

“Not unless absolutely necessary. He is just there to help in subduing the elf. I would like to bring the elf back as a prisoner if possible. There are many questions I have for him.”

“Ok. Sounds good.” Claudia didn’t really like keeping secrets from her brother, but she knew how important it was that knowledge of the egg remained hidden. She returned to Soren and relayed the information about their heading, and about how Dad wanted the elf alive.

“The Gromtor Hills…” Soren bemused. “So is that close?”

“You really got to study your geography Sor-bear. But yes, just a little bit longer.”

* * *

Rayla had lost count of how many rooms she had torn apart. This building was massive. Each floor contained dozens of rooms, each with dozens of places large enough to hide two small humans. She began on the second floor, letting Runaan handle the ground floor. Her search started on the south side of the building, and went counterclockwise from there. She fell into a rhythm with each room she explored.

Enter; Open Wardrobes; Open Cabinets; Peek under furniture; Enter Closet; Open More Wardrobes; Repeat. The task became so monotonous that half of her mind was free to wander. The most pressing issue she had to grapple with was that of her own mortality. She came exceptionally close to dying just moments ago. She could feel the latent pressure squeezing on her throat, as if the human’s ghost was still trying to kill her out of vengeance.

It was frightening to know that despite training her whole life for this, she would have died on her first real encounter if it were not for Runaan saving her. It felt so wrong to be on the losing end of a duel. All her time practicing for this job had given her a sense that she would be destined to win all the encounters she faced because what would be the point of all that practice otherwise?

She felt like a fool. The human she had fought probably had just as much training as her. Yet now he was dead. It could have easily been her instead. It was a humbling revelation.

Rayla thought back to her mindset during the end of the fight itself. In the heat of the moment, death was not the root of her concern. Rather, her ultimate worry was what ramifications her failure would have on Runaan, and on the Moonshadow elves of the Silvergrove. So many resources and so many hours of tutelage had been poured into her preparation for this mission, yet she could not best even a single human soldier, even after Runaan had disarmed him.

_ Runaan should have been furious with me. _

Runaan became a completely different person when he was on a mission, or training for one. Everything boiled down to results. If he got the results he wanted, he was satisfied. If not, then he would grow irate, and dispense a torrent of reprimands to the one responsible, demanding his expectations be met. Yet, after the battle, when he examined her injured hand, that persona was dropped.

Rayla wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was happy that she was finally willing to kill a human that needed to be killed. Regardless of the reason, his encouraging words did give her the motivation she needed to finish the mission. All they had to do was find the human boys’ hiding spot, and end Ezran’s life. The older boy didn’t have to die, but if he got in the way again, she would do what was necessary.

Rayla finished searching the second floor and climbed up towards the third. Runaan, having simultaneously finished the first floor, was limping up the stairways to join her.

“You finished the second floor?” Runaan asked.

“Yes. There were a lot of small rooms, but I made sure I didn’t miss any. Just one floor left.”

“Not quite. Look up there.” Runaan pointed to a small ring in the ceiling. He reached up and pulled down on a small rope attached to the ring. “This is what they call an attic” He said while heaving down an easy-to-miss trapdoor. A rope ladder noisily tumbled out. “You search up there. I’ll take this floor.” Runaan instructed.

Rayla climbed the unsteady ladder, and almost hit her head on the low ceiling inside the attic. The ceiling was slanted to match the gables of the roof. The room itself was a long rectangle, with a smaller rectangle bisecting it, forming a stunted T shape. Rayla began searching the various chests, coffers, and containers nearest to the entrance and worked her way towards the back. Upon finding nothing, she lastly explored the middle section of the T, which ended at a small window at the front of the Lodge.

She stole a glance out of this small window, and her heart skipped a beat. Riding on a cloud of dust, a company of cavalry shattered through the forest, and approached the lodge faster than she could react.

“TROUBLE IS HERE!” Rayla shouted while jumping down from the attic.

“GO! GET THE EGG TO XADIA!” Runaan yelled from a distant room.

Not needing to be told twice, Rayla sprinted towards a window at the back of the Lodge, ready to leap out and make her escape. But she was stopped when she saw soldiers already positioned there. They had surrounded the building with archers. It was a long stretch of open field from here to the forest beyond. A half-dozen archers would have a clear shot at her the whole way across.

If it was the dead of night, she could probably make it, but the evening sun was still bright enough to make the risk untenable. She simply could not take the chance that a wild shot would puncture the precious dragon egg she carried on her back.

Rayla heard a commotion on the front porch of the lodge. Someone… no. Lot’s of someone’s were coming in.

_ I need to hide _ , _ right now. _

Rayla retreated the way she came and launched herself back into the attic. She pulled up the ladder and closed the trapdoor just as the front door of the lodge was kicked in. She heard dozens of distinct footsteps all entering the building and fanning out into various rooms.

She barricaded the trapdoor as much as she could while staying silent. She knew that she couldn’t fight a dozen soldiers, much less all the archers kept outside. Her only chance was to sneak out after the sun went down. During darkness, she would have a chance.

Her plans were interrupted by a sound loud enough to be heard from a mile away.

It was the scream of terror from a young child.

* * *

Runaan hadn’t even processed that he had found the humans when Ezran’s scream assaulted his ears. The boy let loose his shriek the second he had opened their wardrobe. The sound was so sharp and so sudden that Runaan recoiled slightly in surprise. It was a good thing he did, because the older human tried to punch his face as soon as the door opened. The fist stopped just a hair’s breadth in front of Runaan’s nose. It wouldn’t have done much in the grand scheme of things – that human was not very athletic – but it was a small blessing on this day where so much had gone wrong.

“RUN EZ!” Shouted the older human, whose name Runaan had forgotten.

“IN THE GAME ROOM!” A voice came from downstairs. There would be company soon. Runaan had to finish this right now.

Ezran ran out of the wardrobe, heading for the door. Runaan moved to strike him down, just one swing to the neck would do it. The larger human leapt out of the wardrobe as well… but wasn’t trying to flee, he was going for a tackle. Runaan tried to sidestep and slash Ezran at the same time, but the human was faster than anticipated. They collided, and Runaan missed Ezran by mere inches.

“NO!” Roared Runaan as he crashed backwards into a table, knocking all its contents to the floor.

He kicked the human off him. Ezran was disappearing out the door. He had escaped Runaan once again.

But the meddlesome human had not escaped yet. He was lying prone in front of him. This was the one who had delayed him. This was the one who had blinded him. He was responsible for all the trouble this past few days. His actions caused Rayla’s injuries. It would only take a second to deliver his retribution. Ezran could be dealt with later.

So Runaan cleaved downwards at him. The human grabbed a small chest that had fallen off the table. Runaan knew it would do no good. His swords would slice through it like butter. The sword hacked into the wooden box and…

***Flash***

Another sudden light blinded Runaan. His body was peppered with metal objects, leaving small cuts across his body. His sword was launched upwards with such unimaginable force that his hand could no longer hold it. He heard the sword embed itself into the ceiling. His vision returned quickly, much faster than it had with the glow toad, and he was greeted by the sight of dozens of metal keys spread around the floor. The human was similarly stunned and covered with cuts. The chest was no more, only splinters of wood remained. On the boy’s torso was a small cube with magical engravings on it.

_ What the hell? _

Runaan tried again swinging his other sword to finish him off, making sure to aim away from the mysterious magic cube. This human would not escape death.

His sword was intercepted.

A male human soldier with orange hair and a speckled face had just arrived to save the boy. Two more soldiers entered, then three more. Runaan retreated farther into the room. His chances of survival dwindling before his eyes.

The orange-haired human engaged Runaan in a duel, while others dragged the meddlesome human out of the room. As more soldiers started coming into range, Runaan was forced to move away from the door, and towards the window. He had to get out. It was his only chance to survive this encounter.

Even with decades of training, Runaan could not fend off half a dozen humans at the same time with only one of his weapons. He was nicked, cut, and hit at least a dozen times, each strike draining his already weakened body. One more human entered, this one was female, and carrying a massive shield. Runaan could tell that this was the general. All the soldiers parted to allow her to join the fight front and center.

Runaan knew the fight in this room was hopeless. Katolis’ military was built on merit. The General would be the toughest fighter of the group. He had to leave now.

Runaan leaped backwards, crashing through the window. He tumbled down multiple floors, landing with a thud. His sprained ribs erupted in pain as the force of his landing shook his insides. Nevertheless, he stood up, and began running towards the treeline. If he could disappear into the woods, he would be safe.

An arrow whizzed past his shoulder. He was so busy escaping the room that he hadn’t noticed the half dozen archers surrounding the building. He had no choice but to keep running. Behind him, he heard a heavy crash. He glanced back and saw that the armored behemoth of a general had followed him out the window. She locked eyes with him and began chasing.

Runaan was running full speed. His pain in his leg had vanished from memory. This was life or death.

Four more arrows missed him by inches. He was lucky so far, but that luck could not last.

It did not last.

He felt a punch in his lower back. Along with it came a deep soreness in his abdomen. A low grunt escaped his throat. His legs suddenly became like jelly, they still functioned, but became sluggish, and responded slowly to his mind’s commands. A second punch hit him in back shoulder. This time the arrowhead went all the way through and protruded out the front, emerging just above his collarbone. 

“Grrah... No…” 

His running slowed to a walk, then it became a series of steps. A third arrow hit him in his buttocks. This one brought him to his knees. The forest was so far away. He was not going to make it. He was going to die.

The arrows stopped. Runaan knew that meant the General was right behind him. He twisted his whole body around, wildly swinging his blade.

The sword hit the metal shield, and the jarring impact knocked the blade from his grip. The general kicked him in the face with so much force it knocked him onto his back.

***Snap***

The three arrow shafts broke under his own weight. The general was right next to him. He had no weapons. His legs refused to move.

The massive shield was positioned above him. It’s two sharp points along the bottom lined up with his body. Runaan stretched his arms out in a pitiful attempt to stop the inevitable.

The shield came down. It’s two points struck the sternum and the neck.

Runaan gargled blood. He could no longer get air. He could no longer move his arms. Nothing worked anymore. All he could do was watch the general’s seething face as she leaned her entire body weight on the shield. Runaan darted his eyes back and forth. All around him, human soldiers were gathering, celebrating his demise. He thought he saw the sky start raining a strange purple ash, but he decided he was hallucinating.

He always knew he would die on a mission someday. He had prepared for this moment for so long. He felt no fear. Instead, he was annoyed. He had come so close so many times to completing this mission, but the universe seemed like it had conspired against his success. First with the egg, then with the glow toad, then with the chain-wielding human, and now this general. Regardless, nothing could be done about it now. 

_ Goodbye Ethari. _

His eyes rolled down as blackness began to envelop his peripheral vision. His sight rested on the lodge he had just fallen out of. In the top window, he saw something that did cause him to know fear.

It was Rayla. She hadn’t gotten out.

_ NO! I TOLD… YOU… To…… go…… _

The darkness filled the rest of his vision, and his pain melted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I knew that Corvus was a cool dude, but I didn't expect him to be the favorite character for HALF my audience. Hope y'all can forgive me on that one, whoops.
> 
> I'm still stuck at home. I thought it would make my writing more productive, but it became kind of hard to keep writing when the power goes out for 20 hours at a time. (Before you ask, I'm fine. Power's mostly back now) Anyways, just a couple more chapters before the first arc of this story is over. After that, I'm going to take a break while I restructure what happens next. A lot of details have changed in the process of writing this, so my storyboard for the next part is all messed up now. 
> 
> As usual, thanks to everyone who is still reading this. I never expected this much interest in my writing, and the criticism has so far been very helpful and informative. Y'all're a wonderful audience.
> 
> Synopsis:  
> Soren, Claudia, and Viren are on their way to perform the tracking spell. Viren tells Claudia that the real reason for this mission is to retrieve the Dragon egg, and bring back the assassin as a prisoner if possible. But Viren doesn't want Soren to know about the egg.
> 
> Back at the Banther Lodge, Rayla and Runaan are searching for the hidden boys. While they are doing so, General Amaya and her cavalry charge in. They surround the lodge with archers, and barge in. Rayla hides in the attic, while Runaan just then finds the boys in a wardrobe in the game room. Ezran escapes thanks to Callum's bravery. Runaan almost kills Callum, but the Key of Aaravos magically deflects the blow. Gren enters the room and starts dueling Runaan so Callum can escape. Runaan is forced out of the window by the soldiers, and he tries to run to the forrest. Partway there, he is shot by the archers stationed around the lodge. He falls down, and Amaya finishes him off. 
> 
> Rayla watches it all happen from the attic.


	7. The Will to Persevere

Rayla stood unmoving behind the small window in the cramped attic, her gaze fixated on the unthinkable scene taking place in the small field outside. Through a drizzle of purple ash, she watched.

_ No. It’s not possible. It’s an illusion. This purple stuff is part of the illusion! _

She stared at the still body of Runaan, the man who raised her, the man who instructed her, the man who loved her. He had always been there to give her goals and direction, especially after her parents’ scandal. He was the reason she was trying so hard to be an assassin. A life without his guidance was inconceivable. 

_ He must have had a second moon opal. Once the humans are distracted, he’ll run away. _

She forced herself to watch, unwilling to miss the grand reveal she had convinced herself was imminent. The seconds turned into minutes. The humans meandered back into the lodge, and Runaan continued to lay still in the blood-soaked grass. More minutes passed, and plenty of golden opportunities for him to escape were presented, and passed upon. 

The painful realization came slowly. Her emotions fought bitterly against her reason, coming up with increasingly farcical rationales to justify Runaan’s lack of action. It wasn’t until she saw some soldiers shoveling away dirt to create a rudimentary grave that her heart understood the truth. 

Runaan was dead.

Rayla turned away from the window, lightheaded. She leaned her back against the wall for support. Her energy was sapped. She wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep. She slowly slid down the wall into a sitting position, rested her head on her knees, and silently wept. 

* * *

Now that his survival no longer depended on constant vigilance, Callum found it extremely difficult to stay awake. Just moments earlier, his body had mustered the energy to tackle Runaan to the ground, but now he struggled to just keep his head up. He was sitting at the dining room table, with some stale bread in front of him. Even though he hadn’t eaten in over a day, his appetite was practically nonexistent; the bread remained untouched.

His body desperately needed sleep, but he had to tell Amaya what had happened. She needed to know all the details. For the time being, she was outside writing a long letter briefing the castle what had happened. 

Alongside Callum, Gren was engaged in conversation with Ezran while a medic wrapped a splint around Ezran’s injured hand.

“He’s gone forever?” Ezran asked tentatively.

“Yes. He can’t hurt you anymore. He’s gone forever and ever.” Gren responded.

“Just like my dad.” 

The way Ezran spoke, without a hint of emotion, was heart-wrenching. Callum knew the feeling all too well. It was the cold acceptance that a loved one was gone. A decade ago, it took Callum nearly a week to internalize his mom’s death, but the cruelty and danger of the past day forced Ezran to move through the process unhealthily fast. Who knew what kind of effect this would have on him growing up?

Gren was stunned into silence. Callum had known him for a long time, and he was normally great with kids, but it was clear he was ill prepared to talk through the topic of death with a child.

“I better let your Aunt answer that one.” He finally replied.

“I didn’t ask a question. I already know Dad is gone forever.” Ezran said with a morsel of anger in his voice.

There was another long pause. Gren was at a loss for words.

“I’m really sorry Ezran,” was all he could say.

Ezran did not respond. He just silently stared at the medic wrapping layer after layer around the splint on his hand. The medic herself broke the uncomfortable silence with some of her advice.

“This is only good for a couple days or so. Once you get back to the castle, the surgeon will have to do some more work on you, and afterward will give you a more permanent cast.”

“Will I ever be able to grab things with it again?” Ezran asked.

“I think you will. You are young, and your bones are still growing. As long as we fix this up soon, they should be able to heal right back up.”

That answer relieved Callum. His traumatophobia prevented him from studying Ezran’s injury up close, but the couple glances he got looked very bad. The less permanent damage this event caused, the better.

At that time, Aunt Amaya walked somberly into the dining room. The setting sun cast a long shadow behind her tall body. On her face was the most welcoming, most loving expression Callum had ever seen since his mom died. It brought him back to a happier time. Driven entirely by emotion, he stood up and walked into the embrace of his Aunt. 

He had been so focused on keeping Ezran and himself alive the past day. Walking into Amaya’s arms allowed his subconscious to finally recognize that the danger was over. He could finally afford to let his guard down. So for the first time, he cried. There wasn’t one particular thing he was crying about, but rather an amalgamation of emotions. He cried for his late father. He cried for Ezran’s lost innocence. He cried as a way to relieve the stress of the past day. His aunt hugged him firmly, and stood silently to allow Callum’s emotions to work their way to completion.

Once he had had enough, Callum released himself, and went back to the table to get off his wobbly legs. Amaya walked over to Ezran, got on one knee, and gave him the same treatment, albeit a little more carefully in order to not disturb the medic. Gren stood back to let his commanding officer handle the situation. Callum could see him struggling to hold back tears. 

Ezran hugged Amaya for much longer than Callum did. It made sense, he was much closer to Harrow and he hadn’t experienced a loss like this before. It took all of Callum’s willpower to stay awake. Finally Ezran relented, and Amaya allowed herself to sit down at the table with them. While Callum was fluent in KSL, Ezran only knew a few words and the alphabet. It was for that reason that Gren sat back down next to Amaya in order to translate. 

“I know this won’t be easy, but can you tell me everything that happened since you left the castle, in as much detail as possible?”

* * *

Rayla was angry, mostly at herself. 

Once again, she was back to replaying the night where she let the human guard go. 

_ Why didn’t I just kill him? _

If she had just done her job, the assassins would have had the element of surprise, and they wouldn’t have ended up in this mess. Alternatively, if she had just told Runaan that she failed to kill the human, then Runaan could have saved his Moon Opal. Maybe her earlier belief that Runaan was faking his death would have been true in that case.

_ Everything is my fault. They all died because of me. The mission failed because of me.  _

She vividly imagined what sorts of consequences she would face. She was going to lose her hand, permanently marking her as a failure. Every elven civilization would ostracise her, she would be ghosted from the Silvergrove for sure. Each assassin was important to someone. They had siblings, spouses, some even had children. So many people in the Silvergrove would forever hate her for what she did to their loved ones.

_ Ethari’s never going to want to see me again. _

That was the most painful realization she had come to thus far. Ethari loved Runaan so much. After he learned that Rayla was responsible for his death, there would be no healing that relationship. Not a single person in the Silvergrove would vouch for her. 

Even the Dragon Queen would probably hate her. Sure, she hoped to bring back the Dragon Prince, but that quest only started after she failed to kill the human. The mission still failed because of her, regardless of the Dragon Prince’s existence. Runaan was right about her actions being in direct violation of the Queen’s orders. If Zubeia was anything like Avizandum, then she would not take kindly to Rayla’s insubordination.

_ I have nowhere to go. Everybody has reasons to hate me now, and I deserve it. _

She felt a twinge in her wrist, separate from the ache in her mutilated hand. The binding on her wrist had been slowly getting tighter over this past day. The gauze that Runaan had wrapped over her hand completely covered the binding, so she couldn’t see it, but she could feel the pressure on her wrist slowly increasing. She didn’t know how long it would take, but she could only imagine how painful of a process it was going to be.

The band was tightening because she couldn’t defeat that single chain-wielding human. If only she had thought about blocking the chain with a chair like Runaan had. Then they could have searched for longer, and would have found Ezran for sure. Because that boy lived, not only would she have nowhere to go, but she would be rendered a cripple as well. Just taking care of herself would be difficult. All because she couldn’t perform the one job she had trained for her entire life.

_ I deserve it. _

* * *

“So where is this second elf now?” Gren spoke for Amaya. She was very concerned at learning that there were two elves.

“Since you didn’t find the dragon egg with Runaan, I’m guessing she is already going back to Xadia with it. They really wanted that egg back.” Callum answered. Details were hard to recall due to how tired he was, but he was pretty sure he remembered the most important parts.

“Did you see her set forth towards Xadia?” Amaya asked, wanting clarification.

“I… did not, I never saw her at all since we ran away from them, since I left the egg.”

“I never saw her either.” Ezran chimed in.

“We can’t take any chances. She could be close by. We need to get you two back to the Castle right now. It’s not safe here.” Amaya declared, rising from the table. 

“Please… I haven’t slept in 2 days, can we just stay one night?” Callum pleaded. 

Amaya hesitated. She looked at Callum for a long time, then looked around the room they were in. She paused some more, mulling over the request, thinking about the risks. Finally, she relented. 

“We will stay one night, but you must wait until this lodge is thoroughly searched before you can sleep.”

Callum was grateful. He could stand to stay awake just a little bit longer, if it meant he had a soft, warm bed to drown in later.

Gren exited the dining room to deliver the orders. The Banther Lodge became a bustle of activity as dozens of soldiers investigated every nook and cranny of every room. 

_ Just a little bit longer…  _

* * *

Rayla forced herself to look out the window again. The sun had just gone down, leaving a glowing trail in the dusky sky. The soldiers had finished digging the grave, and two of them began to roll Runaan’s bloody corpse over until it fell into the hole. There was no ceremony, no rites, and no respect for the body. Runaan fell face-first into the dirt, and the soldiers immediately began filling the hole back up with earth, shovel by shovel.

Rayla was scared. Ever since she had set off on this mission with the other assassins, she felt like she was standing on a raft in the middle of the ocean, barely maintaining control of her terrifying craft. Now she watched as shovels chipped away at the wood around the edges of her raft, the endless depths of the ocean closing in on her from all sides. There was no chance of rescue, and no hope of escape. 

Runaan’s body began to disappear. The blood-stained turquoise clothes vanished into brown. The limbs were swallowed whole by the earth. Shovel by shovel, Runaan’s presence on the material world evaporated.

Rayla had nowhere to go to, all her hard work so far in life was meaningless. She had no purpose, nobody willing to give her a second chance, and no shot at redemption.

The last part of Runaan to disappear beneath the soil was his one remaining horn, sticking up in what Rayla viewed as a final act of defiance. But soon, it too was buried, and the man whom she needed most in this moment was truly gone forever. 

Her raft was gone. She was going to drown. Sure, she could tread water for some time, but it would only delay the inevitable. Was there any reason to continue fighting?

The concept of suicide had never crossed her mind before. She always had a lifeline, something to strive towards that promised to fix the problems that life had thrown at her. Runaan provided most of that passion, investing fully into her success as an assassin. Now he was gone. Her lifeline was gone. Everything she had believed in, everything she had strived towards was futile. 

_ GO! GET THE EGG TO XADIA! _

Runaan’s last words to her echoed in her mind. It was one last task, one final wish of the man who had always pushed her to be the best she could be. She owed it to him to at least attempt his last charge. 

Determined, she tried to take the egg out of the backpack, but she couldn’t get a good grip on it through her bandaged hand. So instead she just placed her right hand on the warm, pulsating egg. 

Inside it was a living creature, the Dragon Prince. He had been unjustly stolen from his mother, and made to suffer a litany of cruel dark magic spells. This creature was innocent, and had the potential to make the world a better place.

_ My life might be worthless now, but this Dragon deserves a chance.  _

So it was settled. Rayla would wait until midnight, then sneak out to bring this egg back to its mother. Only after the Dragon Prince was home would she allow herself to consider death.

_ If this is my last undertaking, I will complete it. Nothing more to lose. _

Before she could complete that train of thought, she was startled by the sound of the trapdoor being pulled downward. Her barricade was built on the naive assumption that the trapdoor opened upwards, so she was surprised when the objects she placed on top of it simply tumbled down to the floor below.

Equally surprised were the people who opened the door, a man and woman.

“What the hell? Who packed this stuff last.”

“Probably some dainty noble who couldn’t be bothered to put the stuff further back. Now we have to do their work for them.”

“Tell me about it. They don’t pay me enough to haul royal luggage around.”

The two of them continued to grumble as they hauled the objects back into the attic, and tossed them haphazardly into the room. Rayla panicked. She was still in the middle section of the T, and the soldiers had just cut off her only escape from this room. The window was too small for her to fit through. She dove behind a large Coffer and prayed for the best. After seeing what happened to Runaan, she didn’t fancy her chances of getting away if she was spotted.

The two soldiers climbed into the attic with her, and began rummaging through the many receptacles up here, much like Rayla had done only hours earlier.

“I can’t believe we have to spend the night guarding this place.”

“I hear it’s because the step-prince didn’t feel like riding a horse.”

“Unbelievable. Why is that boy allowed to control where we go? He’s not even royal blood, he’s basically a commoner.”

“Because of him, we have to spend the night outside, while he sleeps in a king-sized bed. We could have been back to the Castle by now, at least we’d have a roof over our heads.”

The two guards had walked past the T junction, and headed towards the back wall. Rayla was lucky they had decided to check her area last. She had this one unique chance to get out of here undetected. In a flash decision, she pounced on the opportunity.

She silently strode out of her hiding spot. The humans were facing away from the trapdoor, heads buried in chests and coffers. Rayla stalked her way to the opening in the floor, and dropped down before the humans could turn around and see her. Her specially designed boots muffled the sound of the landing, allowing her to stealthily enter the empty hallway.

She heard commotion in all the adjacent rooms. The humans were systematically searching the entire building; nowhere was safe. As much as she wanted to wait until midnight, it seemed like that would not be an option. She had to escape now.

She sneaked to the end of the hallway, and was able to use her position on the third floor to jump onto the rafters. From there, she scurried above the patrolling humans’ cone of vision towards the entrance hall of the building.

There were multiple humans milling around in this room. One of them was the General that killed Runaan. She donned heavy armor and carried an even heavier shield without seeming to expend any effort. Strangely, at the moment, Rayla didn’t hate her, at least not any more than a generic human. She didn’t have time to think about why that would be, she was too preoccupied with remaining undetected. 

Alongside the general was an orange-haired male, and the older prince, Callum. The three of them were communicating using the same hand-language that Ezran used yesterday, Rayla frustratingly had no idea what they were talking about. Some other soldiers came and went from this area, but none of them participated in the conversation. The body of the chain soldier was no longer here, although the bloodstains from their fight were still soaked into the wooden floor. 

She silently skittered across the rafters towards a large window at the front; this window was big enough for her to fit through easily. She could escape this way. She peered out, and to her dismay, there were still dozens of soldiers patrolling the entire perimeter, some of them archers. The night sky was still bright enough for them to easily spot her. She looked outside for something, anything that could help her. 

She saw a small fishing rowboat. Normally she would never have considered such a vessel, the thought of being just inches from the water for long periods of time would typically have been too terrifying a prospect. However, this time, she felt no such apprehension. Her own sense of self-worth had since fallen off a cliff.

_ I’m basically already dead. What harm could a boat do? _

That boat could be her key out of here. The river was fast. It flowed faster than a human could run, and it carved a path through the forest that no horse could follow with. It would also frustrate any attempts at tracking her. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made to use the boat as her means to escape this place.

But first she had to get to it. Right now was not a good time, she needed the cover of complete darkness, or some distraction maybe. Either of those two options required her to wait. While her spot in the rafters was difficult to spot, she wasn’t exactly hidden. All it would take would be some soldier just randomly looking up and she would be seen.

_ Ugh, I suck at planning. _

All that was out of her control. If she was seen, she’d just improvise something. For now, she just settled into a comfortable position, and waited for the opportune moment.

She would know it when it came.

* * *

Callum stood with Gren and Amaya. He feared that if he sat down again, he wouldn’t be able to stand up. Amaya had just finished thanking him for keeping Ezran alive, now the topic had switched to Lord Viren and the now missing Dragon Egg.

“I say good riddance to that egg. There was no reason to take it in the first place. He should have smashed it right there, or left it alone.” Amaya signed.

“Can you describe the room in more detail, Callum” Gren asked, signing so Amaya could understand easier.

“Uhh… There were… dead things everywhere. The egg was the only thing still alive I think. But there were chains all over, I think he did capture living things at some point, and held them there. I don’t know what for.”

“That’s enough.” Amaya interrupted. She could tell that the topic was difficult for Callum. “He can tell us this when he wakes up tomorrow.”

As if on cue, an officer returned with a verbal report. “General, the building is clear, and a perimeter has been established as you ordered!”

Callum had never been so relieved. He could finally sleep. He trudged up the stairs towards the room he always slept in during family vacations.

“Goodnight Callum!” Said an unexpected voice.

Callum turned around, Ezran was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, his arms were full of freshly baked Jelly Tarts. On his face was a beaming smile. Some weight was lifted off of Callum’s shoulders. It was comforting to know that at least some part of Ezran would stay the same, even after all they had been through.

“Goodnight Ez!” Callum replied, trying to match the smile. He continued onward into the bedroom. Upon arrival, he hastily flopped into bed without taking off any of his clothes. 

He closed his eyes, and…

***CRASH***

\- “HEY!” -  “NO!” -  “STAY BACK!” -  


Callum opened his eyes in frustration.    


_ What is it now? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took quite a while to write. Especially the Rayla POV sections. I had to go through several iterations until I got it to a point where I was satisfied. It also ended up being my longest chapter yet, so I hope it was worth it! I feel like a broken record, but thank you to everyone who keeps on reading and providing constructive criticism. It warms my heart.


	8. The parting of souls

Callum’s heartbeat hastened in response to the commotion outside his room. His body temperature rose in anticipation of action. He was paranoid that something bad had just happened to Ezran, he wanted to check, just to make sure, but his mind was fighting him, pulling him deeper into his pillow. 

_ I’m sure whatever it is, Aunt Amaya will get it under control. _

Callum closed his eyes again. The noises outside continued.

“STOP”   
“WAIT”   
“HELP!”

Callum’s eyes shot open. That last voice was distinctively Ezran. His mind awakened, and he shot out of bed. He tripped on a trunk, and collapsed to the floor. While scrambling to get back up, his door was assaulted by a loud, panicked knock.

“PRINCE CALLUM, YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUESTED!”

Callum immediately pulled the handle, and yanked the door open. There was a soldier on the other side, startled that he had come so quickly.

“Wuh… Come with me!”

The soldier rushed Callum down the stairs and out the front door. 

Callum tried to think of reasons why he specifically was needed to deal with a situation where Ezran needed help, but his fatigued mind was not able to piece anything together. Once he was led outside, however, the situation was immediately clear.

Inside the fishing row boat moored behind the lodge, was Ezran, a knife once again at his throat. 

“NOOOOOO!” Callum let forth such a guttural, anguished cry of despair. It was a sound he didn’t know he was capable of. 

Callum thought he finally did something right, he made a plan that saved Ezran and himself from the assassins. He spared no effort, and he tried his absolute hardest. For a fleeting moment, he felt like he had actually accomplished something daring, something intrepid, something that a prince was supposed to do.

He should have known it could not last. Ezran was once again in grave danger, and Callum’s world came crashing down. Not only was he a clumsy, useless prince anew, but he was going to lose Ezran, the person he cared most about in all the world.

“He will row the boat… and none of you will follow.”

The elf was stating her demands. She wanted Callum to row the boat, probably because she knew he was too pathetic to pose a threat to her. 

Callum ran forward immediately. He didn’t need to think it over, if this was required to keep Ezran alive, he would do so without hesitation. In the corner of his eye, he saw his aunt reach over to restrain him, but he was just out of her reach. He charged across no-man’s-land, and leaped into the boat. He began rowing as hard as his exhausted body could manage, not willing to make eye contact with Aunt Amaya, or Gren, or any of the soldiers on the bank. All he could do was row… row… row.

As long as he kept rowing, Ezran would be safe.

* * *

As the trees enveloped the sanctuary of the Banther Lodge, Ezran couldn’t help but feel dread brewing inside his chest. He held his breath, worried that any sudden movements might somehow upset his captor. The cold steel pricked his neck, each touch growing the panic in his heart. 

_ Why is she so mad at me? _

He wanted to ask her so many questions, but that first night at the campsite had taught him the consequences of talking out of turn. He didn’t know what random action could cause an elf like her to suddenly want to hurt him, so he resigned to holding as still as possible.

A couple of minutes after the last soldier disappeared from view, Rayla removed the knife from his neck, liberating him from her hold. Ezran released the breath he had been holding. His body was shaking, his vision was wobbly. He crawled to the stern of the boat, putting as much distance between himself and Rayla as possible. 

“You can stop rowin’ now” Rayla directed at Callum.

Ezran subtly looked past Rayla to his brother. Callum was a mess. His hair was drenched in sweat, his eyes looked sunken in, his face was pale, and tears had soaked into his collar. He had been silently crying this whole time.

“No… *pant* I can keep going… *pant* as long… *pant* as you want…”

Ezran saw Rayla roll her eyes in disbelief.

“I want you to stop rowing now.” she said, rephrasing her earlier statement.

Callum stopped. He was still out of breath, but he nevertheless pleaded with Rayla, “Please, he’s just a kid. He doesn’t deserve this. I’m sorry about what happened to the dragons, but he had no part in that. I’ll do anything you want, just don’t...”

“Shut up. You talk too much.”

Callum recoiled at that accusation. The way she said it wasn’t threatening or annoyed. She just stated it as if it was the most obvious fact in the world. It certainly took Ezran by surprise too. He had expected her to be angry, violent, bitter. Instead, she sounded distant, as if this conversation was unimportant.

Rayla slumped into the side of the boat, and put away her blade into the back of her vest. She let out a long sigh. Callum was confused.

“You’re not going to hurt him?” he asked hopefully.

“No. But I’m gonna hurt you if you keep pestering me.” Rayla snapped back.

Dumbstruck, Callum shut his mouth and pulled the oars inside the boat. Ezran could visibly see Callum’s tense muscles slacken at the news. His eyes, which were wide-open and alert only moments ago, were slowly relaxing. He leaned back into the folds of the ship, resting his weary body. Within moments, his head slumped, and steady breathing could be heard. He was completely oblivious to the world around him. He had fallen asleep.

Ezran was oddly put at ease. If Callum thought it was safe enough to sleep, maybe Rayla wasn’t dangerous like Runaan was. He still didn’t dare ask any questions, but he felt comfortable enough to look at her directly, and study her a bit more. 

She almost perfectly matched what his tutors taught him a moonshadow elf was supposed to look like; she had 4 fingers, pointed ears, horns, and some facepaint. He heard some further details from others he talked with, but Dad told him to disregard any information that didn’t come from his tutors.

Still, he pondered if some of those rumors were true. 

_ Do they burn up in the sun? No… They were both walking in the daytime yesterday. Do they drink human blood? Maybe. I haven’t seen her eat anything yet… _

Ezran continued to examine the unfamiliar elf. The most striking detail was a bandaged hand similar to his, although it was on the opposite arm. 

_ I wonder what happened. Did Runaan stomp on her hand too? _

Beyond that, a few details about her clothes caught his attention, but he wasn’t sure what to make of them, since he had no idea what elves usually wore. Ezran moved his gaze to her head, he wanted to see if she made the same faces as the humans he usually interacted with. He straightened his back to get a better view at her.

Her eyes were closed. She had a small frown, and a slightly scrunched face. Every once in a while, she let out a quiet groan of discomfort. She looked sick, tired, and in pain all at once. If she were anyone else, Ezran would have felt compelled to talk with them and try to understand her feelings. The memory of the sting on his cheek, however, made him quite apprehensive to do so. Instead, he tried to figure out how she felt on his own. 

_ If she was mad, she probably would have hurt me like Runaan did, so she’s not mad. Her hand is probably why she is in pain. She didn’t have a medic to make it stop hurting like I did. I don’t know why she looks sick though. _

He looked closer. He noticed some moisture on her eyes, and her throat was moving even though she wasn’t talking. It reminded him of what Callum looked like whenever he was trying his hardest at sword fighting, but kept losing to Soren. She was trying to hold back tears for some reason.

This discovery was too intriguing for him to pass up. Despite his better judgement...

“Rayla?” Ezran spoke softly, as if she were one of his forest friends. 

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyelids opened sharply. She didn’t even turn her head, just pointed her eyes sideways to face him. She held that frustrated, exasperated look while she engaged Ezran in a staring contest. After an uncomfortable silence, only broken by the sound of water sloshing around their boat, did Rayla finally speak.

“Do you have a question or somethin’?” She was definitely annoyed.

“Uhh… yeah, I just… wanted to ask…” 

Ezran took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever outburst might come.

“Are you going to ask, or are you going to just sit there starin’ at me?” Rayla interjected.

“Uhh no… I just wanted to know…” 

Another uncomfortable pause.

“Rayla... are you sad?”

* * *

The question was so bewildering, so unexpected, that Rayla didn’t know how to respond for some time. 

_ Am I sad? What kind of a stupid question is that? Sad doesn’t even come close. _

He was probably referring to how she felt about Runaan’s death. He was so naive. All he understood was “someone died therefore I must be sad.” The question was borderline insulting. 

_ Just because you’re sad about your father dying doesn’t mean I am. You had no part in your father’s death, whereas I am directly responsible for Runaan’s death, for all of their deaths. I don’t get to be sad. _

Rayla didn’t know exactly how to describe her current mental state, she was always told to keep her feelings to herself, and not to let them affect her. This question Ezran just asked her went against everything she knew. There was no reason to change her doctrine, it had worked out perfectly in the past. Emotions were just handicaps, she was better off without them.

“Yeah, I’m sad.” She stated, just to move the conversation along.

“It’s okay to cry, you know… That’s what my Dad told me.”

Rayla turned her head to face Ezran, she forced her expression to change to one of extreme boredom, while she modulated her voice in mock-fascination. She wondered if Ezran would pick up on her sarcasm.

“Really!?”

Ezran didn’t acknowledge her bizarre tone.

“Yeah. Sometimes when he was teaching me a new board game, he would start crying because he wanted my mom to play with me too. But she was dead for a long time, so she couldn’t. He always said ‘people deal with hard times in different ways, it’s okay to cry like me, it’s okay to take time to be by yourself like Callum.’ He said some other things, but I can’t remember them all. But just in case your dad never told you those things…”

Rayla dismissed everything he said as fantasy. For a pampered child, those topics probably made a lot of sense, but in the real world, crying would be a sign of weakness. Ezran wouldn’t last a day on his own. 

She was about to tune out the rest of his ramble, but noticed that her seasickness had subsided ever since she began listening. It was such a welcome relief, that she decided to check back into the boy’s nonsense.

“...that’s why I don’t want to tell you that you  _ have _ to cry, but you can do it if you want, it’s pretty normal to cry when sad things happen.”

Ezran stopped his lecture, and looked at Rayla as if he had just said the most profound thing on the planet. Rayla pretended to be deep in thought, just to indulge him. 

“Then why aren’t you crying right now?” Rayla asked.

“Oh, like I just said, not everybody has to cry when sad things happen. I know that my dad is as happy as he can be in his new home. And he can visit me a lot too, so I don’t think that’s something to be sad about.”

“You believe in an afterlife?”

“I don’t know if it’s called that, but since he died, he goes to a place with all the other dead people, like my mom! My dad always told me about how much he misses Mom. Now he can be with her again! And if he wants to see me, he can go into a flower to see me.”

“A flower?” Rayla bemused. That wasn’t in any of the religions that she knew of.

“Yeah! It makes total sense! That’s why people hold flowers during a funeral, and why older people like to get flowers as a gift!”

“What religion is that? Who told you?” Rayla asked.

Ezran suddenly grew shy, his cheerfulness vanished almost instantly. Worried that she had offended him, Rayla quickly followed up.

“What is it? You can’t tell me?”

“Well… If I tell you… Do you promise not to laugh?”

Rayla wanted to keep this conversation going, regardless of how silly it was.

“Yeah, I promise.”

“Okay… Well… like I said, it really makes sense when you think about it, but I first heard it… from some bees.”

Rayla was expecting the answer to be baffling, but this was far beyond her wildest speculation.

“What!?” She exclaimed. “Some bees told you?” She repeated, wanting to make sure she heard correctly.

“I’m not lying!” Ezran said defensively. Obviously this wasn’t the first time he’s told someone this.

Rayla was intrigued now. “I believe you, it just surprised me, that’s all.” She wanted to see where this went.

“Oh… Really?” Ezran acted like this had never happened before. “I… Thank you…”

“So let me get this straight, some bees told you that when someone dies, they go to a happy place, and can visit family through some flowers?” 

“Yeah, that’s what they told me. Some of the bees I was friends with would die, and then some new bees told me that story. Bees don’t live very long.”

_ If only the world could be that simple.  _

Ezran seemed to believe what he was saying, Rayla didn’t detect any deception in his words, just the pure wonder of a child’s mind, where anything could be possible if you just believed. A part of her wished she could share in that bliss, but she knew such happiness was not something she deserved, quite the opposite in fact. 

“I wonder if the Dragon Prince knows.” Ezran said longingly.

“Knows what?”

“If he knows what happened to his dad… and to him. Can I feel the egg?”

“Oh, sure.” Rayla obliged his request, handing the entire backpack to Ezran. The boy king placed his uninjured hand on the glowing egg. Rayla’s mind might have been playing tricks, but she swore that the egg’s pulsating pattern quickened upon feeling the touch.

Ezran closed his eyes, and deeply breathed. In… and out. The lack of conversation made Rayla’s stomach upset again, but she kept the discomfort to herself. The boy was so serene, he deserved this moment. 

After a painfully long interval, Ezran released his hand, and passed the backpack back to Rayla.

“So… What was it like?” Rayla asked eagerly.

“It’s so sad.” Ezran stated, Rayla noticed some tears welling in his eyes.

_ So he won’t cry for his dead father, but he will cry for this unborn dragon he should be enemies with.  _

Ezran continued, “I don’t think he could understand me, but I could hear his thoughts. He keeps calling out for his mom and dad, wondering why their voices stopped.

“That’s terrible.” Rayla agreed. The snarky part of her wanted to remind Ezran that his own father was the one mostly responsible for the Dragon Prince’s plight, but she stopped herself. 

_ Ezran doesn’t need to hear that. _

“I’m going to bring him back to his mother. I promise.” Rayla said. 

“That’s very nice of you. Maybe me and Callum could come with you! Since my dad is… not here anymore… I think that means I’m the King now. I could make sure nobody stops you!” 

That was an interesting proposal, travel with impunity throughout the country. But Rayla was hesitant to accept. Not because she distrusted Ezran, but because she felt like she was undeserving of such kindness. It wasn’t right, being treated like a friend after all the wrong she had inflicted on his world. Not to mention Ezran was a human, and cooperation with humans was just about as impious an action as an elf could do. She didn’t want to refuse outright, so she fabricated an excuse.

“That sounds great, but I don’t think your brother there would approve.” Rayla said, gesturing towards the snoozing prince.

“I’m sure I can convince him. Once he wakes up, I’ll tell him everything. But I’ll let him sleep for now, he worked very hard to keep me safe from Runaan.”

Rayla felt a metaphorical punch in the gut. The abrupt reminder that Runaan was dead soured her mood considerably. She suddenly wanted to be as far away from Ezran and Callum as possible, they were reminders of her failures, not allies, never friends. She turned away from Ezran, and tried to calm herself down. The rocking of the boat hammered her guts with each cycle. Every part of her was miserable again.

She hadn’t gone far enough down the river to feel safe disembarking, so she had to deal with this sickness for some time longer. She finally consented to talking with Ezran, her enemy, once more. Not to become a friend, just to keep her healthy.

“Hey Ezran,” she started, “what were those hand symbols you were making, how do you talk with it?”

Ezran’s face glowed upon hearing her request. 

“Oh! That’s Katolan Sign Language! My aunt can’t hear or talk, so she uses it to communicate. I don’t know a lot of words, but I do know the alphabet. Maybe I can teach you!”

_ Why not? Never know when it could come in handy. _

Rayla agreed to learn the alphabet. While many of the letters relied on the fifth “pinko” finger, she and Ezran found that an elf could still perform all the symbols in a way that could be discerned by a learned communicator. The two of them practiced talking silently until there was a sudden lurch in the boat.

They simultaneously turned to the sight of some violent rapids. Rayla scrambled forward to grab an oar from the sleeping prince, and desperately heaved the rowboat out of the way of some rocks. The boat tossed it’s passengers around like popcorn. For half a minute, Rayla only barely managed to prevent the row boat from smashing itself to pieces, until finally the river spat them into a large lake.

* * *

“Huh!? Where!?” Callum awakened, disoriented.

He was soaking wet, and his heat had just been slammed into something. His vision took a moment to come into focus. 

“You’re awake!” The voice of Ezran called out.

_ Ezran! Is he okay? _

Callum searched for his brother, and found him in the same rowboat he had just been slammed into. 

“Ezran! Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Me and Rayla are fine.”

_ Rayla, who’s that?... Oh right, the assassin. _

Rayla was leaning over the edge of the boat, hurling her insides into the calm lake. Callum averted his gaze from the disgusting sight, grabbed both oars, and pulled the boat into shore.

Once the boat became lodged in the muddy lakeside, Rayla slithered out of the rocking hull and laid herself down on the solid ground. She let loose a couple more bouts of vomit as Callum and Ezran exited the boat on the opposite side.

“Uuuugh.” Rayla groaned, finally rising on her wobbly legs. 

Ezran started tugging on Callum’s Jacket sleeve to get his attention.

“Callum! She doesn’t want to kill us anymore, she just wants to bring the Dragon Prince back to its mother. We should help her!”

Rayla looked nervous upon hearing Ezran’s proposition. Callum similarly was very much against that idea.

“What!? No! We need to get as far away from her as possible!”

“But she didn’t…”

“No Buts. Whatever she told you was a trick. Elves are liars, we can’t trust anything she says!”

Rayla grew irate while hearing Callum say those things, but Callum didn’t care. She was the enemy, Ezran was too gullible, so he had to be the voice of reason. Callum grabbed Ezran’s good hand, and began to pull him away from Rayla. Ezran resisted the pull.

“Stop! At least let me say goodbye to the Dragon Prince!” Ezran demanded.

“Not this again… This isn’t the time for your made up animal talking. We’re leaving… Now.”

“Rayla! Help me.”

Rayla looked away from Ezran. “No. You go back to your fancy castle. Leave me alone.”

“Please!” Ezran pleaded as Callum dragged him farther from the boat, away from the dangerous assassin. He didn’t know what reason Rayla decided to spare them, but he wasn’t going to press his luck anymore. 

Rayla herself began hiking in the opposite direction, Ezran’s old backpack containing the Dragon Egg was worn delicately on her back. Callum was relieved to see the danger walking away from him, but that relief turned to concern when Rayla abruptly stopped and crouched down to the ground.

“Wait!” She yelled from across the clearing. “I have something for Ezran, a parting gift.”

Callum could sense the trap from a mile away, this was the oldest trick in the book.

“No Way!” He yelled at the elf, as Ezran forcefully yanked his hand free. “STOP COME BACK!”

As Ezran tore across the field, a sense of overwhelming dread enveloped Callum. He could do nothing as his brother slammed full speed into the elf, embracing her in a hug. Callum stopped himself out of her attacking range, fully prepared to watch his brother die a painful death.

Instead, he heard Ezran start crying. Not from pain, but from sadness. 

_ He hasn’t cried for Harrow’s death so far, why is he doing it now? What is happening? _

“EZRAN!” Callum called out, hoping that the situation was somehow salvageable.

Ezran released Rayla from his embrace, and began trotting back towards Callum, something small in hand. Tears were still flowing freely down his face as his sobs broke the silence of the lake.

“What did you do to him?” Callum asked Rayla.

“Shut up. Leave me alone.” Rayla said definitively as she stood up once more, and continued her journey east.

“Are you okay Ez?” Callum whispered.

Ezran said nothing, but opened his hand. He was holding something.

Inside Ezran's hand… were two small white flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That concludes the first arc of this story. I want to thank everyone who stuck with it so far, it was very encouraging to constantly see your comments and kudos about this work.
> 
> From here, I will be taking an extended break before starting arc 2, this is for two reasons. One, the details of this story have changed quite a bit as I was writing it, so the outline I made before this whole adventure started is now outdated. I'll have to restructure it to fit the story that's been written so far. Two, I can start to feel a bit of burnout. Taking a longer break is going to be healthiest for me, and allow me to have greater stamina once I do start the second arc. 
> 
> I don't have a definitive timeline for when the next sections will start, but hopefully it isn't too far into the future.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed what has happened so far, and I hope the resolution in this last chapter made all the rough times earlier worth it. I look forward to reading all your comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Once again, thanks for sticking around!


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